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Winston-Salem starts job-readiness program for at-risk youth

YouthBuild Winston-Salem participants get hands-on training in construction. A new program called Positive Path incorporates STEAM activities into its employment and mentorship opportunities. Screenshot courtesy City of Winston-Salem.

Winston-Salem is inaugurating a new job-readiness program for at-risk youth. 

The program is called Positive Path and is open to eligible city residents ages 16-24. Participants will be offered part-time employment with hands-on training for careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM). The apprentices will also have the opportunity to earn their GED and attend post-secondary STEAM classes.

Faith Bartlett, director of the Positive Path Program, says the initiative offers new opportunities for youth in the city.

"There is a lot of violence surrounding this 16-24 at-risk population, so the City of Winston-Salem wanted to give these youth a new direction. We wanted to provide them with several different paths so they could find their own success," says Bartlett. 

Bartlett notes that the pilot initiative expands on the city's previous YouthBuild Winston-Salem program by incorporating STEAM activities.

Applications for the first class will be accepted through July 17.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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