New program to help young adults in Detroit provides hope, motivation
(CBS DETROIT) - A new program to help young adults in Detroit is providing hope and motivation.
Inside of a room at the Detroit Housing Commission's Envision Center, young adults are being given a chance to learn the skills they will need to make a better life for themselves.
"We actually target the homeless. High school dropouts. And it's not just Detroit Housing Commission residents. It's residents within the city of Detroit. So youth 18 to 24 is what we target," said
Denise Jones, Director of Resident Services for the Detroit Housing Commission.
Jones said this is the first Youth Build Grant they have ever had, and they are using it to help young people who might otherwise slip through the cracks of society. Now, they are not only getting hope, they are getting opportunities.
"We have a partner that gives us clothing, so we going to make sure that they're dressed and they have clothing because a lot of them don't," said Jones. "So it's preparing them for the world of work. Soft skills. Resume writing and interviewing skills. How to dress professionally. And then into the actual life skills. Like, what do you do when you start getting paid? How do you cash a check?"
Jones said if it wasn't for this program, some of the participants would struggle in life.
"I think that they would have a hard time finding a place to live. I think they would have a hard time trying to grow and develop into being productive adults that they could be."
Qujuan Ayers is in the program. She is 18-years-old, and she says without it, her future looked bleak.
She had been in foster care and had served time in juvenile detention.
"I feel like I was not going to graduate high school," said Ayers. "So now I want to do stuff like get a trade or get my diploma. I want to go to college. I want to go to Clemson University. I want to study human services and stuff like that, to be a psychiatrist or a therapist for the LGBTQ community because I'm part of the LGBTQ community.
She said she now knows that she has options in life. And she is getting the skills she needs to reach her goal.
