Two YouthBuild participants work on an affordable housing project in the Waukegan area. - Original Credit: News-Sun (YouthBuild Lake County / HANDOUT)

Traditional schooling did not work for LaTorya Crawford of Waukegan and Alan Buenrostro of Beach Park, but they found the right formula for education and training for the workforce through YouthBuild Lake County.

Buenrostro is now a journeyman concrete carpenter earning $49.50 an hour. Crawford found a path to her high school diploma at 17, and is now seeking work as a medical assistant on her way to a career as a real estate entrepreneur.

YouthBuild mentors young adults with low-income backgrounds — from places like Waukegan, North Chicago, Zion, Gurnee and Round Lake — who are often high school dropouts, assisting them with education, job training and career planning. It is based in North Chicago.

Tameka Wilson, YouthBuild’s executive director, said the organization’s eight-to-12-month program helps people between the ages of 17 and 24, putting them on a path toward stability and success. It is a combination of academics, counseling and work. There is a focus on high-demand jobs.

“Many of them dropped out of high school,” Wilson said. “We want them to get an industry-recognized credential and hands-on experience. From us, they transition into a job, trade school or college. They work in health care, transportation, the trades and logistics.”

YouthBuild participants work outside an affordable home in the Waukegan area. - Original Credit: News-Sun (YouthBuild Lake County / HANDOUT)

As part of the YouthBuild program, Wilson said participants construct and renovate affordable housing projects around Waukegan and North Chicago. They also learn practical lessons like managing finances or how to get eyeglasses. Once they get them, things can change quickly.

“Teachers assumed they were goofing off, when they just couldn’t see very well,” he said. “No one realized they couldn’t see what was written on the board. We want to get them out of the cycle of poverty.”

Along with academics and building or renovating affordable homes, Wilson said there are sessions where participants are able to talk about issues important to them. They learn they are not alone, and offer solutions to each other.

Before they are accepted into the program, Crawford and Buenrostro said they must succeed in a mental toughness session to show they are motivated to make the commitment to succeed at YouthBuild.

Working on the affordable housing projects for YouthBuild is what set Buenrostro on his career path. Growing up in Waukegan since second grade, school went well for him until he became a teenage single father in 2015. He was raising his infant son and working at Menards retrieving carts.

“I was always tired,” he said. “I was working and sleeping, and didn’t have time for school. I was helping a woman in the parking lot and she told me about YouthBuild.”

With more and more difficulty in school, Buenrostro said he was attending the AOEC program in Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 for students who need to “get back on track” to attain proper grade level, according to the district website. He graduated from Waukegan High School in 2016.

A few months later, Buenrostro was a YouthBuild participant. Working on a project, he was doing concrete work with a group of other people. It was the first time he tried manual labor, and took to it.

“I liked getting my hands dirty,” he said. “They taught me construction techniques, and how to use a trowel. We do the forms for buildings. Then I did a project at home with my father and grandpa.”

After nine months in YouthBuild, Buenrostro had a job with Blinderman Construction as an apprentice carpenter. He was a union member with the benefits flowing from membership. Now he is a journeyman carpenter earning $49.50 an hour.

Still a single father, he is raising two sons in the Beach Park home he purchased in 2020.

Born in Chicago, Crawford, 17, lived in a number of places until moving to Waukegan two years ago. Before the pandemic, she said she did well academically, but then schools closed and she had to adjust to learning through a computer screen.

“I just wasn’t able to focus,” she said. “I needed to be face-to-face.”

After a friend told her about YouthBuild, Crawford applied and was accepted in April of last year. She learned a new way of learning with a computer, earning her high school diploma through Penn Foster’s online program.

“You took a course at your own pace,” she said. “You took a test at the end, and then you took another course.”

Completing her YouthBuild program in January, Crawford is using the job-hunting skills she acquired there to get work as a medical assistant. She said she wants to gain the savings and stability necessary to achieve her long-term professional real estate goal using some of the skills she gained working on construction projects.

“I want to flip houses,” Crawford said. “I want to own a few places, and rent them out.”

Wilson said YouthBuild has a success rate of more than 90%, with over 75% of participants placed in a job or continuing their education after completion.