Our young men have already spent time at The Bridge as golfers. Now they will have a chance to learn the skills required to maintain a course.
This summer, The Bridge Golf Foundation is launching Youth Works, a summer workforce development program that will provide eight-week paid internships for our high-school-age students.
Grounded in research and best practices, this new program will teach core employability skills such as communication, professionalism and critical thinking while giving our students the opportunity to apply these skills as employees and preparing them for future success in the workplace and college.
During this first year of our Youth Works program, students will have jobs for The Foundation and in The Bridge Golf Learning Center, our state-of-the-art golf instructional center in Harlem and home to our after school program. Among the many advantages of this program will be the opportunity to gain experience in both the for-profit (The Center) and nonprofit (The Foundation) sectors.
As a part of the internship, the nine young men participating this year will also spend three days working on the course maintenance crew at The Bridge in Bridgehampton, learning many of the jobs that drive the $70 billion U.S. golf economy.
Field trips and guest speakers will help participants explore careers in various industries, with a focus on STEM-related fields. By the end of the summer, in addition to gaining valuable work-readiness skills tied to college and career success, our Youth Works participants will:
a) gain valuable work experience
b) explore various career pathways
c) begin building relationships and an employment history that will significantly improve their competitiveness for future employment and internships.
Young men of color, especially those in poor and low-income communities, have some of the worst employment and education outcomes in American society. They are disproportionally negatively impacted by the criminal justice system and suffer from poor health outcomes more than other demographic groups.
These young people are also brothers, sons, and indispensable members of our nation and communities. They will someday be parents and caretakers of the next generation of young children. Their futures, and their children’s futures, are inextricably linked to their success and their ability to access opportunities and pathways out of poverty.
The Bridge Golf Foundation’s Youth Works program will be a powerful early step on that journey.