Culinary students participating in the Mama Ida's Ice Cream Social at the Dallas Farmers Market.

Project S.A.V.E. (Skills Advancement for Vocation & Education)

Youth Village Resources has partnered with Birkman International, El Centro Community College, University of Texas at Dallas, SIFE, The North Texas Food Bank, Dallas County Juvenile Justice, Medlock Youth Treatment Center and the Youth Village.

The purpose of the collaborative efforts among these community partners is to empower young men with opportunities for constructive change, education and possible employment. The partnership develops and supports various training programs, including:

Career Management, Development and Transition

This Program is made up of two parts:

One part is a class conducted by volunteers. The class focuses on developing a Portfolio for future job search and interviews. The participants are given a binder to keep handouts, resumes and other paperwork organized. They create their first ever resume, often listing work skills they have acquired in the YVR's programs, which goes on a flash drive that they receive as part of this class. They practice interview skills and are coached on correspondence, appearance, the interview process.

The second part is a Birkman Career Assessment program conducted by Jerry Silhan with the graduates of the career class in the YVR's computer lab. Mr. Silhan individually formulates the report for each young man and copies are made for the Probation Officer to use in the planning session. Each young man has a follow-up career path planning meeting with Mr. Silhan and their PO. In this meeting they discuss the assessment, chart possible career paths and discuss what form of training/education they may need to get there. The assessment is then loaded on each young man's flash drive so he can take it with him.

Financial Literacy Class - University of Texas Dallas SIFE

This program runs for 4 weeks. We offer this class 3 times per year, once per semester, run by the SIFE students from UT-Dallas. The class consists of four weeks of meetings, twice a week for an hour each.

The first week starts with the pre-test and the documentary film "Maxed Out". Then they cover understanding and creating budgets and the effects of interest charges. We cover checking and savings accounts, and how to use and manage them. Some of the key things they learn is how to use savings accounts and other instruments to earn "free money," how a check flows through the banking system and how to keep an accurate check register. They also learn the functions and dangers of credit cards, debit cards, and loans. We use the video game "Jones in the Fast Lane" to show the students how all of these concepts work together. Toward the end of the course we discuss possible future plans, such as employment and university and vocational education. The last class consists of a brief review of all the concepts that they have learned, an open discussion of any questions, and then a post-test covering the same questions from the pre-test given at the beginning of the course.

Computer Program

We have equipped a YVR computer lab on the Youth Village campus, located in the back classroom of E dorm. We have 15 Dell Desk top computers. We use a portable computer lab at Medlock with 10 lap tops. We partner with El Centro College to teach an ITSC 1001.53401, Introduction to Computers course. They will learn Word, Excel, power point and to format business letters, memos, reports and tables. The combined course will give our young men the ability to pass an employer's computer test. This program is scheduled to run four times a year.

We also use the computer lab for other programs that require computer use such as job searches, resume writing and career assessments.

Nutrition/Culinary Arts program

This program runs three times a year for 6 weeks, during which the young men learn a lot about nutrition, what is in their food and what is good for them. We have partnered with the North Texas Food Bank in a program in which one of their Nutritionists comes on site to teach the Operation Frontline "Power of Eating Right" nutrition class. Immediately following that class a volunteer Chef (usually a professor from El Centro College's Culinary school) teaches a culinary arts class. Professional Chefs work with them to make 6 complete meals. At the end of each class, the young men who pass will receive a certification that they can use on job applications and resumes.

Serve Safe Federal Food Handler program

We have an instructor teach the Serve Safe course in which the young men learn what they need to know to pass the Food Handler examination. At the end of each class we give the Federal test to up to 16 young men. If they pass, they receive the Dallas Food Handler License. This is a valuable license in the food service industry because someone with this license must be on duty at all times when a food establishment is serving or selling food to the public. The young men can put this on their job applications and resumes and it will make them more attractive in the job market, and usually will get them a higher wage.

Horticulture Program

There are two components to this Horticulture program, classroom knowledge and practical experience.

Once a quarter our instructor teaches a 3 hour Horticulture class to all the arrivals since the last class. This gives the young men a good basic foundation of knowledge to draw from.

The Garden Program educates the young men in sustainable organic gardening using the Growing Power techniques. We now employ a gardener who has been trained by Will Allen. This program grows organic vegetables and soon other food, such as Tilapia in the unused swimming pool, for the culinary program, for the garden workers to share with their families, and to be sold to support these programs and other food purchases.

The Greenhouse program is a winter program. We are starting to grow vegetables and herbs for some local restaurants. The reconstruction of our greenhouse was completed by our gardener and the young men on campus interested in learning gardening.