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YouthBuild is a practical, paid leadership development program for young people ages 18-24, from Pittsburgh's North Side neighborhoods, especially California Kirkbride, Marshall-Shadeland, Central Northside, Northview Heights, Fineview, Perry South, Manchester, and Spring Hill-Cityview.   We target young people who are out-of-school, not working, have a “history” with the correctional system, or who have recently been in foster care.

Participants gain construction skills and apply them in a “hands-on” setting, in preparation for 3-month apprenticeships with real-world contractors.  Successful students even graduate with a set of tools they can take to their first job.  Through partnerships with Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council and Community College of Allegheny County, our staff helps participants earn a GED. We can serve up to 24 participants each two-year program cycle.

This project is supported by a grant received by the U.S. Department of Labor - Employment and Training Administration.

For more information, or to sign up, please contact Terri Lee, YouthBuild Case Manager, at 412/321-1678, x 141.

Our staff coordinates the restoration and operation of Fowler Park and Pool, a centrally-located, magnificent neighborhood resource that had fallen into disrepair.  The park, which includes basketball and tennis courts, playgrounds, and a swimming pool, provides our staff with great space to initiate relational work with young people.

In 2007, over 300 people gathered to erect a new, state-of-the-art playground as the result of a collaborative effort among the Junior League of Pittsburgh, which has a substantive track record of training and deploying volunteers for community-improvement projects, and KaBOOM!, a ten-year old national nonprofit organization that provides resources, training, challenge grants, and publications for communities that wish to plan a new playspaces. Our neighborhood’s young people and parents helped design the playground components, and participated alongside Junior League members on the build day. This new playspace provides wonderful, imaginative, new equipment for hundreds of urban families, and is easily the most colorful, enticing component of the transformation of Fowler Park and Pool from a place to be avoided to a destination enjoyed and owned by the community.  Thanks, Junior League friends!