Mission Statement
The mission of YouthBuild Lake County is to help low-income young adults complete their education, learn the necessary skills to become gainfully employed, and build a hopeful future for themselves and their families.

History of the YouthBuild Programs
In 1978 Dorothy Stoneman, now President of YouthBuild USA, formed the Youth Action Program and renovated the first YouthBuild building in Harlem. The success of that program led to a city-wide coalition in 1984 to replicate the program. In 1990 YouthBuild USA was founded to orchestrate all aspects of the replication and policy impact of YouthBuild across the country.

There are currently 225 YouthBuild programs across the nation.

History of YouthBuild Lake County
Our YouthBuild Program began in 2001 as part of Daisy’s Resource and Development Center. YBLC was incorporated and began an independent non-profit agency in November 2003.

In 2005 we began offering our second job-training program, Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) through a grant from the Workforce Development Department of Lake County. In 2006 we began offering a third job-training program, The Advanced Carpentry program with funding from the State of Illinois Job Training and Economic Development Grant Program.

We offer programs to low-income young men and women, ages 17-24, in Lake County.

Community Need
Most of our trainees are from North Chicago, Waukegan and Zion where we target our recruiting efforts. Our programs directly address the needs of these communities as the drop out, unemployment and poverty rates in these neighborhoods far outpace the surrounding communities in Lake County. Our programs are supported by the communities we serve and the need for the program is well documented.