“Opportunity youth” get free job training and support through the Youth Employment Services program, according to an article in Mirror Indy.
Here’s the challenge: Covid 19 increased the number of young people out of school and full-time work, and the increase continued post-pandemic. This Indianapolis program works to connect them to services and provide training to get a job.
Program participants are what social scientists call “opportunity youth” — 16-24 year olds who neither work full-time nor are in school. In 2022, about 24,300 young people in the Indianapolis metro area fit this category, according to the Social Science Research Council.
The number of opportunity youth declined in the mid-2000s, until 2020, when virtual school and a global recession left millions of youths in limbo. Black, Latino and Native American youth are far more likely to be unemployed or not enrolled in school than their white peers, according to the Social Science Research Council.
Since 2003, the YES program — a partnership between EmployIndy and community centers across Indianapolis — has been working to ensure these young people are not off the radar — invisible.
The YMCA of Greater Indianapolis offers an eight-week program at the Avondale Meadows YMCA that provides training, education and counseling. The goal: to provide the tools, resources and support to get on a better path.
At Avondale Meadows YMCA, counselors support students without judging or punishing them.
Students arriving late are congratulated for showing up rather than being scolded. Many are dealing with circumstances outside their control, like buses running late.
Many students in the program at Avondale Meadows are homeless. They’re thinking about how to survive — while many people their age are thinking about college.
The eight-week job-readiness course teaches students about resumes, interview skills, time management and organization. Many students come from foster care or unstable home environments, where this learning is not a priority.
Program participants get bus passes, counseling and free meals. They also get help finding free professional clothing and counseling. This is paid training — students receive a $960 stipend to make up for the time they could have spent working.
Counselors work with the students for at least a year after the course concludes to help with employment, housing or whatever else they might need. Many students don’t complete the program, but it can make a huge difference for the ones who do.
“We just let them know that they’re not invisible,” one counselor says, “that people do see them.”
YES programs are open to Indianapolis residents between the ages of 16 and 24 who are not working full-time or in school.
The YMCA is offering a free certification in personal training at Avondale Meadows starting in April. The city’s also offering a park ranger training program in partnership at Edna Martin Christian Center.
Mirror Indy
