Empowerment and Leadership for Youth and Young Adults
Empowerment and Leadership for Youth and Young Adults (ELY) is a free job skills training program for out-of-school youth ages 16 to 24 in Marion County.
ELY specializes in providing comprehensive job skills training, career coaching, adult mentoring, paid work experience and career exploration, education re-engagement services, and postsecondary transition assistance in-real-time to opportunity youth.
ELY also provides youth with individual assistance, such as one-on-one career coaching and mentoring, goal setting, resume development, professional references for future employment, job search assistance, tutoring, and education re-engagement and retention services for youth who have dropped out of high school. ELY will help you enroll in a diploma or GED program, provide tutoring services, and will help you discover education and career pathways.
About ELY
ELY is a holistic program developed using the Positive Youth Development (PYD) Framework. Youth are complex, intelligent individuals with a wide variety of skills, education, and life experiences that they bring to ELY. Youth are respected, treated with dignity and equity, and encouraged to partner with Interface Network to re-engage in education, develop essential job skills, life skills, and access postsecondary education, advanced training, or employment.
The PYD Framework is a research-based theoretical philosophy that believes youth are successful when provided opportunities, experiences, and support that promotes school success, reduction of risky behaviors, and increasing socially valued outcomes, including prosocial behavior, leadership, and resiliency. ELY provides academic, behavioral, and career-oriented learning experiences that positively impact educational achievement and intended outcomes.
To successfully re-engage youth in education and provide abundant career pathways, our program addresses the social, emotional, and health barriers that youth face and centers the impact of socioeconomic factors and disparate life experiences on their ability to work toward their goals.
Job Readiness & Life Skills Training
We prioritize the job skills employers have identified as most important in the workplace. You will learn customer service skills, develop effective conflict resolution and problem solving strategies, participate in team building activities, and practice effective communication. Our job readiness training emphasizes the importance of essential life skills, and our capacity to effect adaptive and positive behaviors that enable youth to deal with the demands and challenges of life is what makes us distinct.
Career Exploration
Our career exploration services help you explore the many jobs, industries, and trades that are growing and currently in high demand. We help you identify the education or training required to pursue the career you choose and provide market information, industry tours, guest speakers, job shadows, and volunteer experience with local businesses that can help you decide your career path.
Financial Literacy
Financial Literacy training empowers you to make the right decisions with your money. You will address and apply fundamental topics related to personal finance and develop essential financial literacy skills. You will learn about checking and savings accounts, how to create and balance a monthly budget, and practice the habits necessary to properly manage your money as you prepare to enter or advance in the workforce.
Work Experience
Work Experience (WEX) allows you to put theory into practice. ELY participants are required to complete a Work Experience with a for-profit or non-profit organization. The participants must successfully complete from 50 to 300 hours of work. The Work Experience component allows you to gain experience and develop your job skills, helps you build your resume, and provides contacts for future references.
“Joining ELY is an important step toward achieving your educational, employment, and other life goals. ELY provides support and training in a safe environment where you make the decisions, and we connect you to the resources and opportunities you need to get ahead.”
— Colleen Puentes, Program Director