Youth Build

The Emerson Park Development Corporation (EPDC) created Youth Build in 1999 as a comprehensive youth and community development program to address several core issues facing low-income communities, such as education, housing, employment and leadership development. Unemployed young men and women who have dropped out of school and have not identified a path to a productive future enter Youth Build vocational educational program.

Youth Build provides high school dropouts with an opportunity to earn their GED. The curriculum also provides construction skills training, character and leadership skill development, course work to pass construction industry apprenticeship exams all leading to job placement, internships, military career opportunities, or continuing on in higher education. Youth Build trainees have worked on several residential rehabilitation projects in Emerson Park. They also provide service in Alorton, Brooklyn, Centreville, and Washington Park, Illinois. In 2000, this program won a Best Practice Award from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development