YouthBuild, a comprehensive youth and community development program as well as an alternative school for low income young people ages 16 to 24 who have dropped out of school and want to rebuild their lives and communities, had their annual show in the last week of October. It is hosted every year and has been going on for about 20 years. It started about 1:00 pm and had many famous people there such as Omar Epps and other actors from the movie "In Too Deep." Most of them were giving out their autographs and talking about the event.

In youth build, students spend every other week on a supervised construction site, transforming broken down buildings into affordable housing.Youthbuild is an alternative school that also prepares members for earning the GED (general education diploma) or a high school diploma.YouthBuild's leadership development component strengthens young people to become role models for positive change in their communities.

YouthBuild consists of counseling, education, leadership development and graduate services. The program is a lively experience for youths who dropped out of high school and want another chance in life. The program is diverse with Puerto Ricans, African Americans and and European. There were some workers there that were on the stage supplying the music and others were organizers of the event. The security was provided by the muslims and the NYPD and it was tight, being that there were famous faces there. It was a enjoyable event and we saw plenty of different faces.

AS A YOUTHBUILD MEMBER The typical youthbuild americorps member is a young person between the ages of 16 and 24 who seeks a way to makes a positive personal change and a contribution to the community. About 75 percent of members have not completed high school. Those who are already graduates want to improve their academic skills.Each member spends approximately one year performing housing construction and other community service projects, studying for the GED or college and developing leadership abilities.

AS A YOUTHBUILD VOLUNTEER Volunteers are strongly encouraged to participate in the programs and are greatly needed.Volunteers are valuable resources, they tutor and mentor members in the classroom and on the construction site.

YOUTHBUILD SITES ARE LOCATED IN THE FOLLOWING CITIES:
ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, FLORIDA, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, MAINE, MARYLAND, MISSOURI, NEW JERSEY, NEW YORK, OREGON, PENNSYLVANIA, and TEXAS

My Reflections

By Doalexys Polanco

My experience was an educational one because I learned that there was an organization who came to communities and helps build apartment buildings for people to live in.. It was good to see a big crowd of multi-cultural people having fun and hanging out together. There were Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Blacks and even white people at this event all together in unity.

Also there seemed to be a lot of different types of events going on. For example, there were dancers giving a performance on the stage, they had 2 Kung-Fu masters who was going to perform Martial arts in front of everybody. They had several different contests like water in a wheel barrel race which involved the theme of construction.People came from different parts of the country like Philadelphia and Massachutts to come to the 20th Anniverasy of Youthbuild . Other organizations played a big part in this event as well an example is Home Depot. They showed their love by sponsoring this event. Also the reason that the event was held on 117st and second avenue was because the founding father got into a fight on that block and decided to try to help the community. On 117 is where YouthBuild started its foundation. This is why it was held on 117st and 2nd avenue. It makes sense to have the 20th Anniversary on the same street it was founded on. Don't you agree?