About the work force youth program

Established in 1984, the Work Force Youth Program is a comprehensive after-school educational enrichment and work-readiness program for low-income teens in Cambridge public housing. Holistic in design, the program provides participants with sustained networks of learning and support over a critical eleven-year span: from the sixth grade through the first four years of post-secondary education. Our goal is to help our participants to acquire the wide range of skills necessary for long-term success.

The Work Force Provides Each Teen With:

• Accessible program sites, located within the CHA’s largest housing developments, which promote strong connections with students and their families;

• Weekly after-school workshops that instill critical social, educational, and vocational competencies;

• A system of personalized adult support and formal case management tracking;

• College Matched Savings accounts and financial education;

• Paid work experiences with a variety of local public and private sector employers.

Participant Information

For over 25 years, The Work Force Youth Program has helped low-income students to broaden their horizons and to create their own pathways to educational and economic success.

By design, the The Work Force serves teens with a wide range of interests and abilities. There are no performance criteria for admittance into the program: participation requires only that students live in public housing and be enrolled in school. Each year, an 8th grade class is admitted largely on a first-come, first-served basis at all program sites.

The program places a premium on holistic, individualized support delivered in a culture of high expectations over a broad period of time. Placing an accent on quality of support over quantity of participants ensures that we know – and thus can serve – our students well. Each site serves roughly 45 students, ranging in ages 11 to 18, for a total of around 220 middle and high school students annually (52% female and 48% male) with an additional 120 alumni being supported through our Post Secondary Success Initiative.

Work Force participants represent a broad range of ethnicity and races, including Haitian (31%); African American (29%); Latino (17%); African (12%); Bi-Racial (4% ); Asian (4%); Cape Verdean (3%) and White (1%) students.