TOWN OF ULSTER >> At one point in his young life, Isaiah Heil felt like his teachers had given up on him and he ended up dropping out of school and selling drugs.
Then the 16-year-old from Kingston learned about a program called Ulster YouthBuild. He said joining that program turned his life around and gave him confidence in himself. “They never gave up on me,” Heil said recently. He said he now has goals in his life, which include getting his high school equivalency degree and becoming an electrician or going to work in construction. Ulster YouthBuild has been in operation since 1994 and is part of a nationwide program that works with out-of-school young people between the ages of 16 and 24. Interested youth apply to the program and must undergo a three-week mental toughness orientation. Those youth who are chosen receive the opportunity to earn their high school equivalency degree and learn a trade. “The whole philosophy of the program is to re-engage them into education,” program Executive Director Bonnie Landi said. She said the program utilizes the five components of education, construction, leadership development, job placement and counseling. Landi said the program also teaches its youth life skills and helps them overcome any barriers that might stand in the way of their success. She said the program is about presenting the youth with opportunities. Landi said Ulster YouthBuild works with 27 young people at a time, each of who stays in the program between six and 12 months. During that time, the participants are split into two teams and spend one week in the classroom and one week working on a construction site. Recently, the Kingston city Common Council sold a home on Susan Street to the YMCA for $1. As part of their construction component, Ulster YouthBuild participants will renovate that home, which will then be sold to a low-income, first-time homebuyer. “It creates this whole cycle of community transformation,” Program Manager Jodi Hocking said. She said many of the young people in YouthBuild come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, but through the program earn their high school equivalency degree, learn a trade and rebuild a home for someone else. Landi said the work on rehabilitating or rebuilding a home is a required part of the YouthBuild program. She added that participants also perform community service projects that are often construction related. Doing so allows them to earn hours towards an AmeriCorps scholarship, Landi said. Hocking said the youth most recently assisted the Clinton Avenue United Methodist Church by making their gardens handicapped accessible and expanding their storage and food pantry. They also hung sheetrock and painted a classroom at the church, she said. Since it started, Ulster YouthBuild has completed work on 22 homes, all of which were sold to first-time homebuyers. The program participants also created the shower complex at the Rondout waterfront that is used by boaters and installed a new roof on the VFW hall on East Chester Street, amongst other projects. On the education side, the participants were working on designing a treehouse idea for someone in Western New York. Hocking said the project integrates the participants’ curriculum and gets them involved in their education. She said the treehouse project has the theme of “Galileo’s Observatory,” so the youth are using science and math to design the structure, but are also learning about civic issue such as zoning laws. Hocking said the youth are also learning about Galileo himself and about different astronomy theories. While the program works to help its participants earn their high school equivalency degrees, a small percentage can already be high school graduates, Landi said. She said they must, however, have a basic skill deficiency. Angel Lacey, 19, was one of those. He said it was a miracle he graduated high school in 2015, noting he had been a “problem kid.” Lacey said he found YouthBuild because he was looking for a job to learn construction and came across an ad on Craigslist. He said YouthBuild has been much better for him. “I stepped up two grade levels in my math,” Lacey said. He said he is also learning about time management and how to manage his money. Additionally, he was able to go to Washington, D.C. to advocate for the program, Lacey said. Justin Krum, 24, also was part of the group that attended the Conference of Young Leaders event in Washington. He said through that trip he met more than 200 people, but felt like he had known them forever. Krum said he was able to speak with YouthBuild graduates who had gone on to become successful. Krum said he got involved in Ulster YouthBuild because he was just looking for better things in his life. He said he has a high school diploma but had just gone into the workforce and not furthered his education. Krum said a friend told him about the program and he qualified due to a deficiency in math skills. Now that he has been a part of the program, Krum said he has a few things he wants to do with his life. He said he would like to join the police academy or open his own business as a carpenter or in general construction. For Corrin Bach, 18, it was a friend who brought her to YouthBuild. She said she was doing nothing with her life and was essentially sitting home all day. Bach said she had been in and out of high school because she was bullied all the time, causing her to become suicidal. YouthBuild changed that for her, she said. “I never thought I would find so much support,” Bach said. She said now she is involved and wants to go to college. Eventually, Bach said, she wants to get her master’s degree in psychology so she can help other kids who have gone through what she herself experienced. Landi added that Ulster YouthBuild wants to continue to be a safe haven for its participants. She said the participants will get the education, nurturing and care they need. Hocking added that as the participants are learning, they are breaking down achievement gaps and improving their own outcomes. “It changes the trajectory that they were on,” Hocking said.
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