Mandela’s Legacy Shines Through YouthBuild South Africa Expansion

We are pleased to share the following YouthBuild news and information with you before ringing in the New Year. From YouthBuild to you, best wishes for a joyous holiday season.

Mandela’s Legacy Shines Through YouthBuild South Africa Expansion

YouthBuild staff and students in Ivory Park, South Africa

People the world over are grieving the loss of Nelson Mandela. As President Obama observed, “we have lost one of the most influential, courageous, and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this earth.”

So it is with a sense of poignancy and a renewed sense of purpose that we announce that the government of South Africa has named YouthBuild as its key education, skills-development, and youth-service intervention program. By 2016, YouthBuild programs will open in 50 locations throughout South Africa, engaging 5,000 young people annually. The government has approved an investment of $6.1 million as well as the establishment of a YouthBuild school.

Ayanda Makaula, the acting CEO of the National Youth Development Agency in South Africa (NYDA), spoke at YouthBuild’s 35th anniversary celebration in October

and subsequently wrote a blog post for the Huffington Post entitled Through YouthBuild South Africa is Cultivating Its Next Generation of Leaders. In both her speech and her post, she sings the praises of her country’s young people, who have fought so hard towards the freedom that was achieved. Says Makaula, “Youth development is an essential consideration for our country’s development trajectory. Our expansion of YouthBuild is a call for leadership. We want young people to lead the change and positive development in their communities and on a national platform.”

"I am strong-willed, determined, fearless, ambitious, and so much more..."

Erica Muniz, a graduate of DREAMS YouthBuild (Brooklyn, NY), was a featured speaker at YouthBuild USA’s 35th anniversary celebration.

Now a student at Medgar Evers College, Erica shared with us the gift of hope she found as a YouthBuild student. After growing up believing that “this world was full of nothing other than anger, hatred, violence, and hurt,” Erica now sees “the beauty in everything.” Listen to her speech here.

YouthBuild by the Numbers

Even though we’re still gathering and analyzing our data for 2013, we’d like to share with you these broad and impressive achievements:

In 2013, 264 YouthBuild programs engaged 10,000 YouthBuild students. These students completed 3.5 million community service leadership hours by rehabbing or building 2,000 units of affordable, increasingly green housing and other services such as developing community facilities and gardens.
6,000 YouthBuild students obtained GEDs, high school diplomas, industry-recognized credentials and became ready for college. 5,000 YouthBuild graduates obtained placement in jobs, postsecondary education, or both.

Whether it’s the profound impact YouthBuild can have on the life of a single young person like Erica, to changing how an entire country approaches change and development, your support makes a difference. Please consider making a donation today.

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