Worcester, Quincy YouthBuilds Attend Wal-Mart Grant Presentation

            Worcester and Quincy YouthBuild students and staff joined other members of the Massachusetts YouthBuild Coalition on October 21 for the presentation of $475,000 in grants from the Wal-Mart Foundation.

The ceremony was held outside the Boston YouthBuild project on Arbutus Street in Dorchester where students are building a two-story home on an abandoned lot. The house construction is following the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System. Wal-Mart donated all the lighting fixtures.

Quincy alumni Matt Miller and Ryan Serafini enjoyed the tour of the house and were impressed with the project.

 Several students opened the program by speaking about their YouthBuild experience and thanked the Wal-Mart Foundation.

One student from Lawrence said he “learned to make smart decisions,” from the decision to show up every day to the decision to go to college and provide for his daughter.

Another student from New Bedford came to the program because a friend said YouthBuild was the place to be. He got his GED, learned to do energy audits and is pursuing the dream of owning his own business.

            Massachusetts YouthBuild Coalition Chairman Andrew Mente who emceed the event noted that all the speakers had talked about education beyond the GED. “Keep going,” he said.

He pointed with pride to the efforts of some state YouthBuilds that have sent teams to the Gulf Coast to help rebuild after this year’s storms.

           A woman who lives in the neighborhood spoke about how helpful the YouthBuild students had been to the people on the street, including shoveling snow and carrying wood.

YouthBuild USA President Dorothy Stoneman brought news of a new partnership between YouthBuild USA and Martin Luther King III. After traveling the country, he found out what YouthBuild was doing, she said, and asked YouthBuild to partner with him on his “Realizing the Dream” campaign to continue his father’s work.

To the students she said, “You all inspire me. I’m so touched by what you have said. Every smart decision you make helps someone younger.”

Wal-Mart Foundation President Margaret McKenna said a lot of people ask Wal-Mart for money. “What convinced me was the young people I met and the confidence in their voices.” A former college president, she noted “What works in education is respecting students. YouthBuild finds the positive in students and develops it.”

The grant is part of the Wal-Mart Foundation’s $5 million contribution to YouthBuild programs across the country, their largest single grant this year. It is aimed at enabling YouthBuild to increase these programs’ capacity to implement green building techniques, train participants for careers in green industries, assist YouthBuild graduates build assets, and attract more young women to YouthBuild through healthcare training initiatives.

In addition to Worcester and Quincy, programs in Brockton, Cambridge, Fall River, Lawrence, New Bedford and Springfield also received grant money.

The students found the event inspiring. When student Iris Reyes came back to Worcester she spoke to the class, saying she was happy she went and that it made her feel she had done the right thing in choosing to come to YouthBuild.