Project S.A.V.E. (Skills Advancement for Vocation & Education)
The Youth Village Foundation has partnered with Birkman International, El Centro Community College, University of Texas at Dallas, SIFE, Texas AgriLIFE Extension Service, Dallas Master Gardeners, The North Texas Food Bank, Dallas County Juvenile Justice, Medlock Youth Treatment Center and the Youth Village.
The purpose of the collaborative efforts among these community partners is to empower young men with opportunities for constructive change, education and possible employment. The partnership develops and supports various training programs, including:
Career Management, Development and Transition
This Program is made up of two parts:
One part is a class conducted by volunteers. The class focuses on developing a Portfolio for future job search and interviews. The participants are given a 1 inch binder to keep the handouts, resumes and other paperwork in. They create their first ever resume, often listing work skills they have acquired in the YVF's programs, which goes on a flash drive that they receive as part of this class. They practice interview skills and are coached on correspondence, appearance, the interview process.
The second part involves a Birkman Career Assessment conducted by Jerry Silhan with the graduates of the career class in the YVF’s computer lab. Mr. Silhan runs and formulates the reports for each young man. He prints out copies for the Probation Officer to use in the planning session. Each young man has a follow-up career path planning meeting with Mr. Silhan and their PO. In this meeting they discuss the assessment, chart possible career paths and discuss what form of training/education they may need to get there. The assessment is then loaded on each young man’s flash drive so he can take it with him.
Young Men taking the Birkman assessment test online in our computer lab.
Computer Program
We have equipped a YVF computer lab on the Youth Village campus, located in the back classroom of E dorm. We have 15 Dell Desk top computers. We partner with El Centro College to teach an ITSC 1001.53401, Introduction to Computers course. This course has been expanded to include 32 hours of basic keyboarding, in which they will learn fundamentals of keyboarding, and develop speed and accuracy. They will also learn to format business letters, memos, reports and tables. The combined course will give our young men the ability to pass an employers computer test. This program is scheduled to run three times a year.
We also use the computer lab for other programs that require computer use such as job searches, resume writing and career assessments.
Mr. Shelton teaching the Winter 2009 computer class.
Nutrition/Culinary Arts program
This program runs three times a year for 6 weeks, during which the young men learn a lot about what is in their food and what is good for them. We have partnered with the North Texas Food Bank in a program where one of their Nutritionists comes on site to teach the Operation Frontline “Power of Eating Right” nutrition class. Immediately following that class a volunteer Chef (usually a professor from El Centro College’s Culinary school) teaches a culinary arts class. Professional Chefs work with them to make 6 complete meals. At the end of each class, the young men who pass will receive a certification that they can use on job applications and on resumes.
Financial Literacy Class - University of Texas Dallas SIFE
This program runs for 4 weeks. We anticipate offering this class 3 times per year, once per semester, run by the SIFE students from UT-Dallas. The class consists of four weeks of meetings, twice a week for an hour each.
The first week starts with the pre-test and the documentary film “Maxed Out” then they cover understanding and creating budgets and the function and role of interest on both sides of a transaction. We cover savings accounts, checking accounts, and how to use and manage these accounts. Some of the key things they learn is how to use savings accounts and other instruments to earn “free money,” how a check flows through the banking system, and how to keep an accurate check register. They also learn the functions and dangers of credit cards, debit cards, and loans. We use the video game “Jones in the Fast Lane” to show the students how all of these concepts work together. Toward the end of the course we discusses possible future plans such as employment and university and vocational education. The last class consists of a brief review of all the concepts that they have learned, an open discussion of any questions, and then a post-test covering the same questions from the pre-test given at the beginning of the course.
Serve Safe Federal Food Handler program
We have an instructor teach a 5 week program in which the young men learn what they need to know to pass the Food Handler examination. At the end of each class we give the Federal test to up to 15 or 16 young men. If they pass, they receive the Federal Food Handler License. This is a valuable license in the food service industry because someone with this license must be on duty at all times when a food establishment is serving or selling food to the public. The young men can put this on their job applications and resumes. It will make them more attractive in the job market, and usually will get them a higher wage.
Horticulture Program
This is a partnership with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the Dallas Master Gardeners. There are two components to this Horticulture program, classroom knowledge and practical experience.
Once a quarter the Master Gardeners teach a 3 hour Horticulture class to all the arrivals since the last class. This gives the young men a good basic foundation of knowledge to draw from.
There are 8 raised garden beds that are planted with herbs and vegetables several times per year. The young men learn from seed to harvest, with some of the produce being sold or given to local restaurants and food pantries. In the Spring several rows are plowed to plant field crops like Purple Hull peas and Okra. In the winter, we utilize our greenhouses and partner with local produce growers to help provide some locally grown greens.
Photo of crops germinating in raised bed.
Photo of fall radishes and spinach.
The Greenhouse program is a winter program. We are starting to grow vegetables and herbs for some local restaurants. The reconstruction of our greenhouse was completed with a lot of help from the Seabees. Seabees Greenhouse Project
Eight Ball Squash being grown for local restaurant Parigi.
