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Program builds homes (and jobs!)
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"Whenever the job is done, you feel good about yourself. You did that, you completed it," says Tony Dang. Dang, 21, was a member of a crew of young workers that recently finished the total renovation of a home at 27 Norwell Street in Dorchester . Last week, the city of Boston cut the ribbon on the home and Paulino and Alice Sequeira moved in with their two teen-age children. The renovation work was done by Dang and his fellow workers from YouthBuild, an apprentice and training program that gives young people real, on-the-job training in construction trades. The hope is to set young people on a path to a job in the building trades. Dang is a carpenter. He came to YouthBuild last March, and in a few months will come out of the program ready to find a carpentry job on his own. "I think that by the time I'm done with this program I probably will be able to go at it on my own without YouthBuild," says Dang. He came to YouthBuild with no previous experience in carpentry, but has come to enjoy working with his hands. "That stuff, making something out of nothing is really fun for me, I really like that," says Dang. Working on the home on Norwell Street was particularly gratifying, Dang says, because of the street's history. "I heard that before we came in there, a couple of years ago, it was a bad neighborhood," he says. "Fixing it up, plus it was my first project, it really made me feel good." The Boston chapter of YouthBuild is based on Dudley Street in Roxbury. At that facility, low-income young people ages 18-24 receive training and work on projects at the facility. Programs begin each July and run for approximately 10 months. For those who need it, the program also helps its students gain their GED. Using YouthBuild for the Norwell Street project, as well as others, is a win-win, says Charlotte Golar Richie, the city's director of neighborhood development. The students, who often hail from the neighborhoods they end up working in, have a special attachment to the projects. "They're proud of what they've been able to accomplish, and now they have real tangible skills," says Richie. YouthBuild Boston is part of a national organization with 227 chapters across the country, and 11 in the commonwealth. Since its founding in 1990, the Boston chapter has trained over 800 young people in the building trades, and helped those who needed it gain their high school diplomas, said Patricia Barnsworth, Boston YouthBuild's director of administration and development. Those students have renovated 67 units of h ousing in the greater-Roxbury area, says Barnsworth. Next up on their radar is a plan to construct a duplex on Arbutus Street. At the ribbon cutting for the Norwell Street project last Thursday, YouthBuild also received a grant for $700,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, money that will allow YouthBuild to train 58 young people, and finance two rehabilitation projects. - View the 27 Norwell Street project Copyright © 2007 YouthBuild Boston. All Rights Reserved. | |