YouthBuild

At the heart of New Jersey Community Development Corporation’s mission is providing opportunities to transform lives and communities. Every year approximately 35 young Patersonians between the ages of 16 and 24 seek out Great Falls YouthBuild for the opportunity to get a second chance – a chance to turn their lives around.

Based on a national model, our Great Falls YouthBuild is an intensive, 10 month program in which young adults who never completed high school study to obtain their GED or high school diploma, build affordable housing, and develop the leadership- and life- skills necessary for living a successful and productive life.

After a rigorous several week period of “mental toughness” training, YouthBuilders begin learning how to build houses. They quickly apply these skills by constructing new homes in their very own neighborhoods. In the past we have collaborated with the Paterson Housing Authority and Habitat for Humanity to provide our YouthBuilders with the opportunity to actively rebuild their own community. The sense of pride felt in a YouthBuilder’s heart as he or she witnesses a family moving into a new house that has been built by him or her is, in a word, life-changing.

When YouthBuilders graduate from our program, they leave with a set of tangible skills and a newfound confidence which enables them to take on the world. Our graduates go on to succeed in many different areas. Some enter the construction trades to start new careers; some go on to community college and beyond; and still others find interesting and well-paying jobs in various other industries. The common thread is that all of our YouthBuild graduates have succeeded in transforming their own lives through hard-work and commitment. They leave the YouthBuild program with the skills and confidence necessary to accomplish whatever goals they set for themselves.

New address for Paterson Great Falls YouthBuild:
404 Grand Street, First Floor
Paterson, New Jersey 07505

Youth Development Coordinator:  Marc Damon-Smith
Phone: 973-345-5448.

YouthBuild is a national program that gives youth a second chance to earn their GED and learn tangible skills applicable to a career in the trades or beyond. Photo by Thomas E. Franklin.