YO! Baltimore Seeks Volunteer Academic "Coaches"

Baltimore, MD – Youth Opportunity (YO!) Baltimore seeks caring adults to work with teens as coaches for an upcoming competition. The YO! Skills Challenge, which will begin in January 2004, brings together youth from YO! sites throughout the nation to compete in public speaking, writing college essays, language arts, math/budgeting, current events, career vocabulary, employment survival, employment interviewing and college interviewing. Volunteer coaches for Baltimore’s YO! Skills Challenge Team are asked to commit to two hours each week for two months and can work with individuals or small groups.

An initiative of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board Youth Council, Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, and multiple workforce partners, YO! Baltimore increases the long-term employability of Empowerment Zone youth and young adults by offering a broad array of education, work readiness and personal development resources and activities. Since YO! Baltimore began, more than 3,200 Empowerment Zone residents, ages 16 to 21, have become YO! members.

According to YO! Project Coordinator Jean Cooper, “YO! members may not have had many of the experiences or advantages of other youth, but they are bright and eager to learn and grow. They can and do succeed socially, academically and professionally when they have the benefit of caring adults who champion their achievements.”

“As a volunteer coach for the Skills Challenge,” she continues, “Your commitment will touch the lives of the youth with whom you work, and it will make a difference in your life as well. You will benefit enormously from learning about the dreams and visions of our youth and feel enormous gratification as you watch them progress and achieve. We know you will be uplifted and inspired.”

Those interested in volunteering are asked to Patricia at 410-396-6722.