Grand Rapids' Professional Services Business Provides Employment and Training for At-Risk Youth

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Building Bridges Professional Services employs at-risk Grand Rapids' young people in a venture that provides lawn care, landscape design, home renovations/remodeling, snow removal, and other services. 



This innovative project results from a partnership between Urban Family Ministries, Tabernacle Community Church, and Bethany Christian Services and aims to provide valuable paid work experience and leadership training.  Since its inception in 2007, Building Bridges has provided employment to more than 60 at-risk youth while currently maintaining more than 300 properties in the community.
 


Its program was heavily influenced by a 2007 study that discovered that at-risk youth involved in a holistic employment program were 6 times less likely to become incarcerated, 4 times less likely to become homeless or receive public assistance, and 50% more likely to be employed in the future.

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