YouthBuild

In the late 1970s, a youth worker in New York City named Dorothy Stoneman started a program that paired entry into the construction trade with academic advancement to draw in youth who had fallen off the path to graduation and employment.

President Trump has nominated former Bush official and current Kentucky workforce chief John Pallasch last month to head the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA), which oversees a large block of youth employment dollars that the administration has targeted for cuts in its first two budget proposals.

President Trump campaigned to victory with a platform that included more jobs, better jobs, and a commitment to invest in America’s infrastructure. The early details on his first budget do not suggest that the existing federal job programs – which are mostly aimed at youth and young adults – are a priority in that vision.

Dorothy Stoneman, who founded the first YouthBuild site nearly 40 years ago and grew it into a national, federally funded staple of the youth services community, announced that she will retire next January.