Training Services for Street Youth

closed

The general goals of the project are: (a) to demonstrate cost-effective and replicable training and services programs by the private sector for street youth which are oriented to the self-sufficiency and productive potential of the youth; (b) to encourage private sector participation in the financing and job placement of this training program; and (c) to strengthen the technical and institutional capacity of the Foundation in order to increase the provision of services to the street youth of Mexico City through its "El Caracol" Program. The specific objective of the project is to design a multi-tiered program of street youth activities, which includes outreach activities, training of basic and higher technical skills, and housing alternatives. The conceptual framework of the program's curricula is similar to that of Jobs Corps, an intensive technical skills program offered to disadvantaged youth in several developed and developing countries. The project will be implemented as a 24-month pilot initiative and would consist of start-up financing to the Foundation to expand its Caracol Training Center program. The activities will consist of three main components: (a) basic skills training; (b) more advanced academic and vocational skills training; and (c); technical and institutional strengthening. At its completion, it is estimated that the program would reach an estimated 1,000 youth per year, during its pilot phase and an estimated 1,500 per year thereafter, considering an eventual expansion of the Center and its services, once the pilot phase is concluded.