Community leaders are seeking to equip young people with the education and skills they need to succeed in the workforce. Foundational workplace skills have longterm impact on the success of the employee in the workplace.
The Center for Work Ethic Development is honored to partner with community leader, Dr. Lerone Joseph, in his work at the Virginia Mayor’s Youth Academy. Dr. Joseph is dedicated to providing the young people in Richmond, Virginia, with opportunities to learn, grow, and find paths toward success. We worked with him to implement Bring Your ‘A’ Game Anywhere as a resource for Richmond youth.
From the beginning, we’ve been committed to a productive partnership with Dr. Joseph and his team. He recognized our effort, stating, “The team from Bring Your ‘A’ Game was extremely supportive in everything we had to do, from setting it up, to the expectations we had, to tailoring the programs to us, to communication, responsiveness, day-of troubleshooting problems.” Dr. Joseph called our partnership “probably one of the easiest relationships I’ve built.” We feel the same way—it’s always easy to partner with a team that is passionate and committed to its mission.
The Virginia Mayor’s Youth Academy contacted us with the aim of providing young people in Richmond with skills and credentials to prepare them to enter the workforce. In the first year of the program, the Academy enrolled 110 youth between the ages of 14 and 17. Of those students, 92% completed all the modules and 70% received The Certificate of Work Ethic Proficiency. Dr. Joseph felt that the curriculum “worked well with this generation of youth.” He believes that “it’s important to meet them where they are, providing some asynchronous training that they could do at their own pace.” He also noted that Bring Your ‘A’ Game Anywhere was “easy to understand [and] easy to use,” making it an excellent starting point for their younger learners.
As a result of the success of Bring Your ‘A’ Game Anywhere, The Virginia Mayor’s Youth Academy has begun offering the curriculum to foster youth in the City of Richmond. Their aim is to provide valuable skill training and workforce preparation for young people who are close to exiting the foster system. “The modules are so relevant,” says Dr. Joseph. He is confident that access to this resource will help to ease a difficult transition for foster youth in the city.
If you are a community leader interested in partnering with The Center for Work Ethic Development, don’t hesitate to reach out. We look forward to being part of your community.
