YouthBuild: Where Young Adults Learn the Building Trades and Build Their Lives

by Lauryn Bray

In Building B of South Seattle College's Georgetown Campus, a cohort of young adults meets Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to participate in a national program designed to put them on a path to career success. YouthBuild is a pre-apprenticeship certification program for 18—24 year olds who are interested in specializing in a particular trade. Over a span of six months, the collective will be introduced to a variety of different trades such as carpentry, ironwork, electrical, and welding.

"The first part of the program is for folks who haven't completed a high school diploma or GED. So for that crew especially, the information they have coming in is 'I do not like traditional education but I like working with my hands.' That's all you need, honestly,'" said Jamie Pinilla-O'Dea, a program manager for YouthCare Seattle.

YouthCare's YouthBuild in Seattle is one of 275 YouthBuild sites around the world. As part of the program, students will receive a weekly stipend while studying for their GED. By the end of the program, students will graduate with six industry certificates and 38 college credits, according to its website. Alongside the instruction of Terry Moe, Pinilla-O'Dea has been managing YouthBuild program operations for three-and-a-half years.

"The qualifications we have are 18 to 24, low-income, [eligible for] food stamps — we're part of YouthCare, so [youth who are] housing insecure or coming from unstable housing or family systems or environments are our general population," Pinilla-O'Dea said. "[The program] takes hard work, for sure, but it's rewarding. It provides economic stability, and it's [a] livelihood."

Troy Hayman went through YouthBuild 10 years ago and now works as the program's case manager, assisting members with securing housing, applying for SNAP benefits, and transportation. Hayman said he finds case management more rewarding than construction.

"I can always fall back on carpentry — construction is always gonna be there," Troy said. "I got into case management because of my lifestyle: I didn't have a lot of help and I had to find out all these resources about myself. It took me a while, because sometimes I would be too old or too young, or didn't have my paperwork at the time, or didn't fit the certain criteria for a program. So if I'd had somebody that was actively mentoring me or handling my case that actually would refer me to a different program just to see me be more successful, I feel like I would have been successful faster."

Michael Chandler was in his second week when he sat down with the Emerald for an interview one afternoon. "I can imagine myself building things. I can see myself becoming a better version of myself in every single way," he said.

"I'm deciding whether to do carpentry, bricklaying — sometimes I'm even thinking about doing electrical," Chandler said. "I want to know how to do everything, to be honest."

Hayman, who has several certifications, is proof that ambition like Chandler's can go far. "Since I've been in Washington — from the moment I got here until now — every month, I'm getting state certified. I got my Agency Affiliated Counselor (AAC), my phlebotomy, [and] my CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) [certifications]."

Part of Chandler's goal to learn so many trades possibly comes from watching presentations by professional tradesmen. Moe, YouthBuild's instructor, said bringing in guest speakers to discuss what work is like in a particular trade is an integral part of the program. "We bring in a lot of people," Moe said, "We had architects today. We've got electricians coming in, we have pipefitters, we have carpenters. We go on job walks, which are the best, because they get to see all the work that's going on."

On one of their more recent job walks, Pinilla-O'Dea said they ran into a YouthBuild alumnus working at the site they were touring: "We had a job walk with a partner … last week, and one of our most recent graduates got hired on there. And so we got to see him on the job site."

Also, as part of the program, the cohort receives counseling once a week. "On Thursdays, we have counselors come in and we get in a group and play games, get to know each other, and talk about conflict resolution," said Moe.

According to Moe, a key focus in his instruction is to outline a path toward generational wealth through hard work. "Generational wealth is the main thing," he said, "If we can get them going to work every day, their kids are seeing that, and then their grandkids are seeing that, and that's creating a path for more and more people just to get that wealth. Because the wealth is there, and there's a lot of different roads."

If you're interested in applying for the YouthBuild program, visit YouthCare's YouthBuild page to download an application.

📸 Featured Image: Students work on projects at YouthCare's YouthBuild pre-apprentice certification program to prepare them in careers in the building trades. (Photo: Susan Fried)