Blog

Last Friday, 118 YouthBuild students graduated in front of friends and family at a ceremony held in Zion Baptist Church's sanctuary on North Broad Street.  Hundreds of guests attended, as well as Class of 2016 applicants going through Mental Toughness Training. The ceremony kicked off with recognition and awards for the many community partners who have employed, trained, counseled, mentored [...]

This year, IKEA South Philadelphia employees selected YouthBuild Philly as a recipient of their Mini Life Improvement Challenge grant, which provides local nonprofits with a budget to revamp their space with IKEA products.  YouthBuild's proposal requested help with the creation of a student lounge where students could study, hold meetings, and hang out after class on our newly-renovated 5th [...]

Earlier this month, Saint-Gobain hosted a media day on Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin parkway to promote their "Future Sensations" installation and announce their renewed funding of YouthBuild green building initiatives as well as a new YouthBuild school that will open in South Africa. At the event, YouthBuild Philly graduate Jerome Kinard (Class of 2014) delivered the following remarks about how YouthBuild's [...]

Vote here! Great news: YouthBuild Philadelphia has the chance to build a safer, stronger, and better educated community through our dropout reengagement efforts, thanks to the State Farm Neighborhood Assist program! We are a finalist for a $25,000 to support our mission of supporting former high school dropouts to become self-sufficient responsible, contributing members and leaders [...]

YouthBuild Philly's graduation ceremony is still a couple of months away, but that didn't keep us from enjoying commencement season this weekend!  As more YouthBuild alumni enter postsecondary education and pursue their college degrees, we now have more graduates from the YouthBuild family to congratulate each May. Zurrell Toney '09 with Executive Assistant Eva Lexie and Director of [...]

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust In March, a group of YouthBuild students and staff traveled to Utuado, Puerto Rico to participate in volunteer projects and explore the surrounding area.  Many YouthBuild students have never traveled outside of the Philadelphia region - much [...]