In 2015, Greenville Revitalization Corporation purchased and renovated the abandoned, 8,500 square foot office building across from the former Woodside Mill. This historic building was given a new purpose: it is now home to Goodwill’s YouthBuild USA program designed to educate and provide employment skills to at-risk youth in the area.
Last Friday, the latest class of YouthBuild students graduated. This is the second graduating class to complete the program at this Woodside location. All graduating members earned a GED high school equivalency diploma and a certification from the Home Builders’ Institute, indicating completion of an apprentice program in construction trades. According to the YouthBuild USA website, “there are 2.3 million low-income 16-24 year-olds in the U.S. who are neither in school nor employed.” YouthBuild combats this statistic by empowering students to “rebuild” their communities, their education and their lives.
Rebuilding Greenville’s Textile Crescent through YouthBuild
The former Woodside office building includes a construction lab and classrooms. Benefits of providing an apprenticeship program in construction include:
- Students are prepared for immediate employment in the industry
- The physical labor training involved in the trades is appealing to youth because it produces a highly visible result in their community
- Students with a criminal record are not excluded from careers in construction
- The construction industry is experiencing a shortage of available workers, particularly among skilled trades
Congratulations to Greenville County’s Bright Youth
Congratulations to the recent graduates of the YouthBuild program! We look forward to seeing what these bright young students will bring to the Greenville County, SC community!
More information about YouthBuild is available on the Youthbuild website: https://www.youthbuild.org/
To learn more about GRC’s current and upcoming projects around Greenville County, feel free to explore our website or get in touch.
