Current Services

Currently at Young Community Developers (YCD), Inc. we are offering several programs that connect individuals in San Francisco's Southeast sector with employment opportunities and actual job connections.

  Current Initiatives

Through these efforts we are providing trainings and orientations offsite at San Francisco's One-Stops (which are employment hubs operated by San Francisco's Office of Workforce Development). In addition to the orientations and offsite trainings, we are able to disseminate hard copies of important information throughout the community; information concerning job training, job postings and available apprenticeship programs.

Our career and counseling services under our JRI program allow us to make the appropriate referral and linkages for the clients we currently serve at YCD. We have an on hand business center and Education and Employment Specialists that work hand-in-hand with our clients and ensure that we make the most appropriate connection. Currently our specialists refer clients to the various sector academies:

 Access to Success

When clients walk in the door and have any barriers to employment (which they often do), we immediately assess them and begin to work on strategies that will assist them in removing these barriers. We have a 'barrier mitigation fund' that allows us to provide monetary assistance in breaking barriers for clients who face at least three (3) of the following seven (7) barriers: driver's license issues, criminal history, no high school diploma or GED, absence or lack of transportation, substance abuse issues, mental health issues and childcare problems. Our case managers locate the barriers and upon approval use funds to provide transportation (bus passes), childcare assistance and even assistance with funds for individuals with traffic violations and fines that keep them from gaining employment.

Continued Progress

One of the jewels we have here at YCD in regards to programming is our subcontracted Mayor's Youth Employment and Education Program (MYEEP). This program is funded by the San Francisco department of Children, Youth and Their Families and we are a subcontractor with the contracted agency the Japanese Community Youth Council. We have been funded as a MYEEP subcontractor for over three (3) years and we have just begun our fourth year cycle. Under MYEEP we provide job training for youth from 14-16 years old (high school freshman and sophomores). In addition to the actual job training we provide academic assistance/tutoring and work with youth to create their own development plans. These plans include their future goals and allow them to begin to think about where they want to be in the next 5-10 years.

 AT&T and COMMUNITY PARTNERS CELEBRATE INNOVATION IN SERVICE REFERALS AND RESIDENT JOB PREPARATION

District 10 Supervisor Sophie Maxwell Celebrated for her Leadership

San Francisco, CA - AT&T and community partners, (Young Community Developers and Alice Griffith Tenant Association, TURF and Communities of Opportunity) announced the outcome of two innovative efforts to increase social service participation and job readiness of residents of the southeastern section of San Francisco.  Through two grants from AT&T totaling $50,000, community groups piloted a new client recruitment strategy using "bulk text messaging".  Bulk texting messaging allows notification of residents of employment opportunities, health services, apartment availability and community meetings. The partners also teamed to eliminate barriers to employment; (DMV, GED, transportation and tool acquisition) increasing the client's marketability to prospective employers. This project accelerates a community trend of using multimedia and social networks to increase social service participation. The pilot engaged public housing residents of Alice Griffith, Hunters Point A-West, Sunnydale and Hunters View. Over 250 unemployed participants gained employment through the Mayor's JobsNow Stimulus Program, Lowes Home Improvement and neighborhood construction projects.  As a result of "Bulk Text Messaging" referrals to the Southeast Health Clinic and Bayview Child Health Clinic drastically increased among this population.   Housing unit vacancies also fell within the majority of targeted public housing developments.   AT&T President Ken McNeely, remarks "AT&T is proud make investments in strategies that significantly enhance family outcomes and bring underserved communities into the 21st century. We must continue to be creative and nimble in our efforts leverage technological advancements for community benefit."   

This employment strategy is a great example of how this new system is able to connect existing resources in a powerful new way to help make opportunities tangible.  The job path begins with work readiness and temporary employment in neighborhood cleanup programs that helps residents learn soft skills while they work on removing other barriers to employment. Graduates were referred to JobsNow internship where they gain career experience or enrolled in training programs such as City Build and have support to find long-term employment within and outside of the city system.  Most of these positions already existed within the city, but residents had no way of navigating from one position to the next, and often other barriers stopped them in their path.  This system makes those connections for residents and helps they resolve the other issues that stand in the way of career success.

Supervisor Sophie Maxwell notes "This pilot is anchored in 3 bedrock principles: One - empowering residents through technology... Two - connecting our social service work to our economic development work to ensure real opportunities exist for all... And Three - communicating with people in a manner that increases the likelihood of a positive outcome" Supervisor Maxwell continued saying, "This creative partnership advance our efforts toward our goal of changing the ineffective engagement efforts and outmoded top-down service-delivery system."

YCD and LOWE'S Collaborate to Place SF Residents In Jobs:

Over the past several months Young Community Developers, Inc. has worked diligently with LOWE'S to create employment opportunities for Bayview Hunters Point and San Francisco residents. YCD provided job readiness training and orientations to community members concerning the job opportunities with the new LOWE'S store on Bayshore (opening November 4, 2010). Within this collaboration, YCD has placed seventy one (71) SF residents in a LOWE'S job opportunity; out of that 71, fifty five (55) of those receiving jobs were from the 94124 (Bayview Hunters Point) neighborhood. This has been a great opportunity for the individuals hired, LOWE'S and the community. Now we are working to ensure that these individuals maintain employment and that we continue to connect BVHP and San Francisco residents with these same job opportunities. LOWE'S is dedicated to keeping members of our community working and we are looking forward to this growing relationship between YCD, LOWE'S and the community. We want to thank LOWE'S for their commitment to providing jobs in this community and for letting YCD be the vehicle through which so many opportunities were made real!