Employment and Education Services for High-need Young Adults in Red Hook, Brooklyn

This grant will allow Red Hook Initiative (RHI) to create a formal structure to better engage disconnected youth. RHI’s Young Adult Program helps youth ages 19-24 obtain a high school equivalency diploma, develop professional skills, obtain an internship/job, and enroll in college/vocational programs. A quarter of the young people who enroll in the Young Adult Program drop out, however; these youth are disconnected from school and work and have the lowest levels of educational attainment. RHI proposes to hire a case manager to provide individual attention to these participants in order to help address the underlying issues that cause them to drop out of the program. Some of the issues include lack of day care, health/mental health care, and housing. RHI will also design a pre-employment workforce readiness initiative that will focus on young adults with low educational attainment and little work experience.