Y.O.U. helps build great futures: summer job teens get hands on experience in construction

Jun 30

*2023 Building Great Futures cohort poses with program administrators from Y.O.U. and Habitat for Humanity.*

Friday, June 30, 2023

On Thursday, June 22, summer jobs participants met at their first construction site, a house in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood.

This is the sixth year Y.O.U. teens will learn about the construction trades while being paid to renovate a home over the summer. The entire house will be rehabbed, but the teens will be focused on rebuilding the kitchen, which includes helping rewire the electrical, updating plumbing, painting after it is drywalled, laying flooring, and installing cabinets. The teens trained at Associated Builders and Contractors in Broadview Heights to prepare them for their work experience. They teach basic skills such as how to use and read a tape measure and the tools they will be need during construction. They also teach an OSHA 10 certification class.

“We have many partnerships that are wonderful. This one is always so special to us,” said Brittany Atkinson, Y.O.U. Senior Manager of the summer jobs program. “It’s one that the staff has always talked about with a very special tone for the past three years, since I’ve been a manager.”

*Building Great Futures participants talk with Y.O.U. board member Jeremy Sosin of Sosin Law LLC at their worksite.*

Several community and state leaders attended the kickoff event, including Cleveland City Councilperson Deborah Gray (Ward 4), Cuyahoga County Councilperson Meredith Turner (District 9) and Ohio State Senator Kent Smith. Also among those present at the event were Y.O.U. Board Members LaTina Johnson and Jeremy Sosin, James Nichols of the Cuyahoga Land Bank, Donald Woodrow of the Union-Miles CDC and Brehon Pittman from the office of Ohio Congresswoman Shontel Brown.

Building Great Futures is also supported by Home Depot, who supplies tools for each of the participants, and PNC. The Electrical League of Ohio, PEPCO, NECO, and SteelBlue provide work boots for each of the students.