Our Programs
Career Internships TeamWork Internships Leadership Internships
Inspiring Interviews Training Camp Workshops
YouthForce provides low income and minority teens with a long term, high engagement ladder of training, mentoring and internships that develop the individual responsibility, teamwork skills, professional experience, and career networks needed to succeed in high school, college and beyond.
Since 1999, YouthForce has created over 500 internships and provided more than 110,000 hours of mentored, paid experience in some of the best Seattle companies in career fields from accounting to veterinary sciences.
YouthForce's signature program partners career focused low income and minority teens with amazing businesses to provide after school and summer internships- paid, career relevant work experience with mentors and career networks for their future that inspire teens to achieve their absolute limitless potential.
Teens in our Career Internships benefit from a collaborative support system with both a YouthForce mentor and an Employer mentor guiding and encouraging their success- both on the job and as young adults. A balanced focus which results in our 90% employer and teen satisfaction rate.
To inspire career learning and personal growth, teens work with their employer mentors on a work-based curriculum that builds their career awareness, communication skills, self knowledge and a professional network.
We salute our 2008 Employer partners who provide incredible experience and guidance for teens::
Amazon.com; Coughlin, Porter, Lundeen; Cushman & Wakefield; Expeditors International; Experience Music Project; Flow International; Microsoft; Stoel Rives; and ZymoGenetics Inc.
Our TeamWork Program provides teens with a mentored first internship that cultivates the communication, teamwork, personal responsiblity and customer service skills teens need for school, life and our advanced Leadership and Career Internships.
The centerpiece of this program is our partnership with First and Goal Inc, and the Seattle Seahawks. Each year, over 100 YouthForce teens create the "the HawkSquad" at Seattle Seahawks home games. As HawkSquad members, teens build and demonstrate their communication, teamwork, personal responsibility and customer services skills as they support the ProShop, Halftime shows, pre-game activities and engage with fans all over the stadium.
TeamWork teens develop pre-employment skills valunteering for Seattle premier community events including Bumbershoot, SeaFair, and other events.
Our Leadership Program provides experiences for teens to grow beyond themselves, to further develop their competencies as leaders with responsibility for the success of others. Simply put, this is leadership at work, and our goal is to utilize teens as core staff and peer leader.
Teen Leaders include:
- HawkSquad Leaders These YF teens are responsible for coordinating and supervising the HawkSquad. 10 groups of teens each rely on their lead to provide instructions and support.
- Peer Counselors provide academic and pre-employment counseling to teen applicants.
- Business Development teens demonstrate teens readiness and abilities to potential employers.
- Webmasters provides the technology skills to ensure the functionality and value of our website.
- Teen Researchers connect with current participants and program graduates to gauge our effectiveness, guide our continuous improvement effort and help develop program strategies.
YouthForce organizes a wide range of informational interviews for teens to help young people meet known leaders, hear the challenges they overcome, and how they think, dream and achieve. These inspirational conversations demonstrate for teens that they too have the ability to achieve their greatest goals and dreams.
Since 2006, YF teens have coordinated and attended informational meetings with Costco Wholesale Chairman and co-Founder, Jeffrey Brotman; Starbucks Chairman, Howard Schultz; Expeditors International CEO and Founder, Peter Rose; and Former Governor and Current Lawyer, Gary Locke.
Jeffrey Brotman, Costco Chairman and Co-Founder
Howard Schultz, Starbucks Chairman
Your story is truly inspiring, especially since I can relate to it so much. Growing up in a horrible neighborhood can be pretty detrimental to anyone’s psyche. I’m really scared of failing or ending up right where I began. Childhood was tough. We barely lived paycheck to paycheck, but family kept us strong. Living in such a rough place you don't see too many successes. It can really bring you down, but hearing your story which is so few and far between it gave me hope”. -Nneka Bolden
YouthForce college preparation, youth engagement and employment preparation trainings at the Boys and Girls Clubs. Our trainings partner with the UW Dream Project to prepare teens for college. Through Youth Ventures, teen engage in the design and implementation of community projects, and our coaches teach tbring it all together to help teens develop the skills they need to grow.
Small group trainings are critical for teens—particularly those teens without family/community support systems—to achieve and succeed in their academic, personal and internship goals. In 2008, YouthForce was selected as the career and internship service for the Boys & Girls Clubs of King County, expanding our services and partnerships to South King County
Our workshops emphasize our 3-Point Plan educating teens that their achievement in school, extra-curricular activities and service learning experiences are the true pre-employment stepping stones, and pre-requisites for employability.
Teenjobs.org provides area schools and community programs with a common resource of online employment, career guidance, and resume building tools. Since 1999, Over 3000 teens have applied to TeenJobs.org, demonstrating the interest and demand for our services from teens, schools and community organizations.
All students who apply to teenJobs.org receive individual feedback and an invitation for further coaching. During these sessions, YouthForce staff meet individually with teens to assess their strengths, challenges and goals. Our counselors review their school and community involvement, discuss employment norms and expectations, share job search and interview strategies, and coach and refer them on available programs or jobs, YouthForce or beyond, that match their goals.
TeenJobs.org receives over 1.2 million hits a year and is one of the top 5 Google listings for "teen jobs"