Entering the labor market can be especially difficult for youth with a history of problem behaviors and poor choices. The YWCA gives high risk youth the chance to move forward with their lives by reducing their risk factors, building their skills, and helping them develop positive expectations for the future-both personal and as a member of a larger community.
The IMPACT Program enables high risk youth who because of academic challenges and poor school performance, inadequate social skills, socio-economic disadvantages and related factors have suffered barriers to education and employment to acquire coping and leadership skills, learn how to market themselves and perform in today's competitive job market.
Given changing local demographics, pessimistic graduation rates for some demographic groups, and the persistence of economic disparities for those at the lower income level, the construction trades offer concrete opportunities for well-paying jobs and skill development.
The Apprenticeship Opportunity Pilot Project (AOPP) provides a platform to build an infrastructure around a set of multiple initiatives present in the St. Paul area to attract and retain people in the construction trades. What is unique about AOPP is the inclusion of a complementary policy component that drives demand for apprentices by having public sector jurisdictions set utilization goals for this class of trades workers.
The working mission statement for AOPP is as follows: The Apprenticeship Opportunities Pilot Project will reduce poverty by increasing the access to skilled trade construction jobs for those groups typically underrepresented, specifically people of color, women, the economically disadvantaged, and those facing barriers to employment utilizing programs that lead to graduation from a certified apprenticeship program.