PALMDALE –Antelope Valley YouthBuild was awarded a $1.1 million federal grant to continue to provide young people with the tools, resources and opportunities they need to succeed at life, officials announced at a press conference Wednesday.
The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Labor, and the money will fund two years of services and one year of follow-up services for the local YouthBuild program, said Executive Director Rossie Johnson.
“This actually means that we’re able to serve 70 to 80 young people… provide them with high school diplomas, provide them with job training – mainly in construction,” Johnson said, adding that the program also provides life skills, leadership skills and community development skills.
“We want them to be a part of the community they live in, we want them to contribute to it, we want them to build on it, and we want them to make it their home and feel good about it being their home,” Johnson said.
To obtain the grant, AV YouthBuild teamed with Antelope Valley Partners for Health, which serves as the fiscal sponsor for the grant.
“We’re very proud to offer fiscal support to YouthBuild, to help them grow as a nonprofit here in the Antelope Valley,” said Michelle Kiefer, Executive Director of Antelope Valley Partners for Health.
Antelope Valley YouthBuild is an alternative school that provides programs to “at potential” young people, ages 16 to 24. The students work toward their high school diplomas, learn job skills and serve their communities by building affordable housing and transforming their own lives and roles in society.
Participants spend six to 24 months in the full-time program, dividing their time between the construction site and the YouthBuild alternative school. Antelope Valley YouthBuild’s mission is to unleash the intelligence and positive energy of “at potential” youth to rebuild their communities and their lives.
“There’s a number of people in our community who’ve had limited support throughout their lives, and now this [$1.1 million grant] is going to help mend some of that lack of support,” said Palmdale Mayor Pro Tem Tom Lackey. “It will give them the skills to continue to be successful, because we know that through success is how we get real happiness and sustained happiness.”
The award is the Antelope Valley program’s second $1.1 million YouthBuild grant from the U.S. Labor Department. AV YouthBuild received its first million-dollar award in 2012, after five years of applying (read more here). The program has flourished since then, Johnson said.
“Over the last two years we’ve had great success with young people in this community; we’ve had an 80% placement rate…a more than 75% graduation rate from high school,” Johnson said. “They are community-minded now, and they feel like they belong in the city of Palmdale, in the city of Lancaster.”
One such success story belongs to Bredell Rogers, who said AV YouthBuild kept him “off the streets” in 2012. He said the program helped him get his high school diploma and land a full-time job removing graffiti and cleaning up illegal dumping in the city of Palmdale. Most important, the program gave him mentors, Rogers said.
“My mom is a single parent and she works, herself, so YouthBuild gave me a lot of mentors,” Rogers said. “I saw a lot of successful people around me and it showed me that you don’t have to do illegal stuff. You can choose a job that you actually like and be successful at it.”
Students and alumni are putting the final touches on YouthBuild’s Supportive Housing site, located at 38518 5th Street East in Palmdale. Slated to open within the next month, the half-acre property was developed by YouthBuild participants and alumni to offer shelter to AV YouthBuild students who may be at risk of homelessness.
The Supportive Housing Site is in need of household items to furnish eight bedrooms, four bathrooms, two kitchens, two living rooms, two community rooms and a laundry room. For more information on how you can “adopt” a room, contact AV YouthBuild at 661-266-8900.
For more information on AV YouthBuild, visit http://www.avyouthbuild.com/.
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Grant says
A positive endeavor indeed!
William says
@Grant
I see you finally got around to actually commenting on the article yourself.
A positive development indeed!
What do you think about Palmdale being nominated as one of the most ‘business friendly cities’in today’s article-another positive development?
Jason says
City of Palmdale and Lancaster should match the $1.1 Million Grant and have more kids in the program.
William says
Palmdale has to pay big money to Rex Parris for lawyer’s fees. Not to the city of Lancaster, mind you, but to Rex ‘hisself’.
Grant says
@William This article isn’t about Rex Parris. Please read the article again, if you did at all.
William says
@Grant
Are you unaware how this works. My ‘reply’ was a ‘reply’ to Jason’s comment.
And, given the circumstances, it was an appropriate reply to his suggestion about how Palmdale should spend money as it has other liabilities thanks to Rex Parris.
Why did you bother to reply to me, anyway? Are you a Parris minion?
Or, are you Rex? I haven’t seen your name here before.
Grant says
@William Your comment has nothing to do with this article, Jason’s comment does address this article. You don’t make any sense.
William says
@Grant
You do realize that both your replies/comments also had nothing to do with the article.
Something is fishy about your sudden concern for being on topic. Really fishy. Really, really fishy.
Jason is suggesting that Palmdale spend city funds on something. Doesn’t matter what it is because Palmdale has other ‘obligations’ to consider.
Do you think Rex Parris will be OK if Palmdale tells him to wait for his lawyer fees because Palmdale wants take Jason up on his suggestion?
Or, maybe, Rex could forego his fees altogether from his lawsuit so that Palmdale can help match the grant.
How ’bout that, Grant? Does that address the subject matter of the article sufficiently for ya?
Eric says
You’ll have to forgive Bill. After all, this is a man who attempted to turn an article in remembrance of abused children into a platform for his Republican bashing. And look, the classiness continues unto here.
Malibu Dreaming says
Rex is suing Palmdale and sending the money to where it is really needed-Malibu. Yep. Pepperdine Law School, where all the truly needy study. What a creep.
William says
@Malibu Dreaming
Someone called ‘Grant’ commenting on a ‘grant’ says I don’t make any sense.
I think he/she doesn’t like the sense I was making.
That is all.
daniel says
My blessings to this program. I hope it proves successful and rewarding to all those involved.