A job creation program that really works (continued)

THE FEDS’ SHRINKING COMMITMENT

US Senators Mike DeWine of Ohio and John F. Kerry of Massachusetts have been leading a bipartisan push for the last five years to increase funding for YouthBuild USA by 50 percent. "YouthBuild is an inspiring program that changes the lives of young people," DeWine, a Republican, said through a spokesman. "I have met many of the hopeful young people this program supports, and I have seen first-hand that the program works."

Senator Lincoln Chafee, who supports the expanded funding, likewise lauds the program, saying, "YouthBuild programs have gained bipartisan support because they engage disadvantaged youth in comprehensive programs — such as the one in Providence — and assist them in rebuilding their lives and their communities."

As a discretionary social program that benefits poor people, YouthBuild has generally attracted more support from Democrats than Republicans, says founder Dorothy Stoneman. Over time, however, YouthBuild has attracted increasing levels of Republican support. "It’s consistent with their core values," Stoneman says, citing YouthBuild’s principles of hard work, education, and community.

Yet while the US House of Representatives has offered bipartisan support, increasing funding has consistently been denied in conference committee. "That you can have a majority of the Senate and House favoring YouthBuild’s expansion, and that’s denied in conference behind closed doors — that’s the underlying disillusioning fact," Stoneman says. Because of insufficient funds, YouthBuild USA turns away 10,000 youth from its programs each year.

While Rhode Island is beginning to recognize the program’s achievements, the federal government last month cut YouthBuild USA’s national budget by 20 percent, leaving more than 200 programs with $50 million in HUD funding.

This cut, larger than the five percent reduction originally proposed by the Bush administration, resulted from a gap in necessary legislation after funding was slated to switch from HUD to the US Department of Labor. Once the lapse was identified, a last-minute HUD appropriation gained bipartisan backing to reinstate the program’s funding, although at a lower level.

According to Scott Molloy, a labor history professor at the University of Rhode Island, federal investment in programs like YouthBuild dates to the Great Depression of the 1930s and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1935 creation of the Works Progress Administration — a federal employment program that, by 1943, had spent roughly $11 billion to employ more than 8.5 million people working on nearly 1.5 million government projects nationwide. This kind of workforce investment continued under Lyndon B. Johnson, notably through such Great Society efforts as the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act and the establishment of the Job Corps, a residential career program serving roughly 70,000 disadvantaged youth every year.

But the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan, Molloy argues, ushered in the reversal of the federal government’s support for this kind of social spending. Throughout Reagan’s presidency, conservatives — most visibly, Charles Murray in his 1984 book Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-80 (Basic Books) — denounced many Great Society programs as ineffective, arguing that they fueled a culture of poverty among a lazy underclass. In the first six years of Reagan’s tenure, according to the Atlantic Monthly, the White House cut funding for work and job-training programs by 50 percent. And in Rhode Island, says Molloy, a state built on a manufacturing industry that has continued to shrink, the working class was hit especially hard.

Meanwhile, the Center for American Progress reports that the Bush administration has proposed more than $1 billion in cuts to job training and vocational education programs over the last five years. Mala Thakur, deputy director of the National Youth Employment Coalition, a nonpartisan group based in Washington, DC, points, in particular, to deteriorating levels of federal investment in youth job training.

FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT

As a program that serves predominately dropouts, ex-offenders, and gang-affiliated youth — and those that fit all three categories — YouthBuild faces challenges beyond fluctuations in federal funding. "Most organizations aren’t willing to work with adults in high-risk situations," says executive director Cortes. "The obstacles these youth face are pretty unparalleled." Such obstacles make YouthBuild’s successes all the more noteworthy.

Piseth Long, 24, a first-generation Thai immigrant from Fall River, Massachusetts, who graduated from the program in 2004, recalls the difficulties of being a YouthBuild student while simultaneously working to support his daughter. Although YouthBuild offers a $200 biweekly stipend to its students, the sum wasn’t enough to support Piseth’s family. "I’d have to leave school early, at 3 pm," he remembers, "then work ’till 3 am in the morning before coming back to school the next day."

Beyond family responsibilities, old habits die hard for many YouthBuild students, says Piseth, who started getting involved in gangs when he was 11 years old. "They feel like they have something to prove, everybody trying to be hardcore," he says of his fellow classmates. "They got problems with the street, and they bring the problems to YouthBuild."

Nevertheless, YouthBuild does a lot to support its students, offering food, counseling, anger management classes, and an emergency fund for those facing eviction and homelessness. The program’s resulting 60-to-75 percent retention rate is a testimonial to both the staff’s dedication and the students’ perseverance.

YouthBuild demands an intense level of commitment from its students, starting with the application process. From the applications received for 30 openings each year, 60 prospective students are selected to undergo "Mental Toughness," a three-week course in which they must demonstrate their physical and mental commitment through a mix of punctuality, basketball games, community service, and abdominal crunches. "The point is for us to all get on the same page regarding values in our programmatic culture," says Cortes. "We provide a lot of structure. Attendance is a must."

Mental Toughness proves too much for most. By one student’s count, only 40 students showed up on the second day of last year’s training. At the end of the three weeks, YouthBuild selects its incoming class from those left standing.

For those who make it through, like 25-year-old Robert Deal of Providence, such hurdles are less of an issue. "I used to sleep every day until 2 pm," says Deal, YouthBuild’s current class president, who had previously served jail sentences and seen a number of friends wind up "either in jail or dead." Now, "I’m up at 5:30 am. [YouthBuild] starts at 7:30 am, and usually, people are outside the door by 7 am, waiting. I feel really fortunate to be here," Deal says. "YouthBuild’s given me something to look forward to."

Piseth, who is now making $13.50 an hour as a union carpenter, expects to make $30 an hour in four years. He says he owes everything to the YouthBuild staff. "I just got much love for them," he says. "They changed my life around, showed me so much I never saw on the street. If not for them, I’d still be in a dead-end job hustling on the block, going to jail, living another life."

Given such success stories, it’s not surprising that the United Way, the state Department of Education, and the City of Providence — which recently authorized the title transfer of a vacant lot to YouthBuild for $1, for the program to develop affordable housing — are taking notice. "Each time I visit YouthBuild I am impressed by the remarkable level of energy, determination, and dedication of the students and staff members," says Mayor David N. Cicilline. "YouthBuild has done an extraordinary job providing young people who are considered ‘at-risk’ with the skills and confidence they need to succeed."

KEEPING IT REAL

In light of federal cuts, local support is ever more vital to the continued success of programs like YouthBuild. YouthBuild’s staff has to "live by their wits and be incredibly creative in putting together public and private support," says Patrick McGuigan, executive director of the Providence Plan. "YouthBuild’s dependence on HUD funding is not a long-term healthy or viable scenario."

Despite such uncertainties, Cortes remains optimistic. "We’re at a pivotal moment right now," he says, "and I definitely see us expanding."

Last summer, YouthBuild Providence received a $25,000 seed capital grant from Consortium America, a consortium controlled by Trammell Crow Company that invests in union development. "What we’ve been trying to do is figure out how to bring disadvantaged youth into the union world," says Consortium America’s Joseph Galli, "so YouthBuild’s work is very exciting to us."

In the past, YouthBuild was dependent on Habitat for Humanity and different community development corporations for its affordable housing efforts. By providing the program with the capital to invest in the necessary tools and equipment, Consortium America will enable YouthBuild to become its own developer. As its own developer, the program can independently build affordable housing, while reinvesting the profits. "This will enable YouthBuild to become far more self-sufficient," says Cortes.

Meanwhile, the Providence Redevelopment Authority’s $1 transfer of a vacant lot to the program helps both parties: the city benefits from the construction of sorely-needed affordable housing, and the profits from the sale of the completed unit will go back into YouthBuild. The exact site has yet to be determined, but the transfer will take place in time for the program’s 2006-2007 class to develop it. While the PRA has never previously partnered with a nonprofit on job-skills training, says executive director Thomas Deller, "YouthBuild is very successful in what it does, and the city naturally wants to help them in what they do."

In coming years, Cortes hopes to double the space on Delaine Street and to offer at least an additional 15 class slots for incoming students. There’s already a waiting list of 30 students for next year’s class — and more inquiries come in each day.

Though the program has the potential to expand, Cortes plans to keep YouthBuild rooted in the Olneyville community. He recalls coming home on Messer Street one day to find a 16-year-old boy shot in front of his house. At YouthBuild, Cortes has since worked with the same youth who held that teenager as he died. Since graduating from the program, the youth has started a career in light manufacturing and returns often to visit with the staff.

"These connections go deep," Cortes says. "It’s all here. It’s all very real."

Te-Ping Chen can be reached at teping.chen@gmail.com.