Youth Empowerment Sites (YES)

Youth Empowerment Sites (YES) are an employability training program of the Department of Juvenile Justice designed for at-risk high school students. YES's are designed to improve the overall functioning of at-risk high school students at home, in school, and in the community. The program provides job skills training, career exposure and community internship/work experience for participants from 16 sites located throughout South Carolina.

YES programs are a supplement to DJJ's Teen After-School Centers (TASC), which are also operated statewide. Annually, each YES site provides up to 60 high school students, ages 16-19, with comprehensive job readiness skills training, career exposure, and paid community internships at local businesses for a "real life" work experience. The goals and objectives of YES are to:

• Increase the employability of at-risk high school students;
• Improve school attendance, academic performance, decrease school dropout rates, and increase the likelihood of high school completion and enrollment in secondary education, or the military;
• Reduce the recidivism rate for students served by the program that are involved with DJJ by preventing further delinquency and/or violence.
• Contact George Singleton, Program Director at (864) 277-5788 Ext : 102 for additional information.