YouthWork AmeriCorps is part of a national program working with 16 to 26 year olds, teaching members vital job and life skills all while completing valuable, long-lasting projects in the community.
“It just made me feel like I can do something in my life,” said Hope Adams, former YouthWork member and now employee.
Amanda Elliott is the director of in Traverse City. She says her goal is to prepare young adults for the future.
“They come to us often times shy and withdrawn and aren’t really sure of themselves and by the time they leave we see them just grow and thrive and have confidence in themselves and their abilities,” Elliott says.
YouthWork members are refereed by the .
Mimi Kinney, transition coordinator for TBAISD, says, “Students who needed soft skills training, needed hands on trade, learning about just how to keep a schedule and show up and be reliable and be motivated and we’ve found that it’s a really good fit for many of our students.”
Those students start working right away for local government agencies and nonprofits.
Elliott says, “They’re out building trails and building boardwalks and planting trees and just making this a better community for us all to live in.”
Sean Miles says the program taught him the self-assurance he needed.
“It gave me a lot more confidence in my ability and just trusting myself so that I can actually do tasks. I wasn’t really able to do that before, to be put in leadership positions,” Miles says.
And the hard work is paying off; YouthWork in Traverse City was one of four programs nationwide, selected to receive the National Project of the Year Award through the Corps Network.
Elliott says, “We were all so excited to be there and just the recognition of all this hard work that we’ve put in, it just felt really good.”
Giving young adults like Adams the ability to go to college, which she starts this spring.
“Without this program, I would be at home sitting on the computer all day and even care or anything; but with this program, it’s like a second home to me, it made me feel like part of the family,” she said.
You can support YouthWork and its mission by becoming an investor or partner. Do that by going to their website at
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