Local High School Students Say YES to Helping At-Risk Youth

PRLog (Press Release) – May 08, 2008 – Community Partnerships, Inc.(CPI) announced today that Leesville Road High School students have donated over $3,000 to its Wake County Youth Employed & Succeeding (YES) program. Members of the Leesville Road High School student government led an in-school fund drive to support the YES program, which provides academic services, vocational guidance, and job-readiness training to Wake County’s most needy young people.

“It is truly an inspiration to see what the students at Leesville Road High have accomplished,” says Albert Fisher, CPI’s Executive Director. “These are young people reaching out to their peers, giving a helping hand to kids their own age who are fighting to break the cycle of poverty and hopelessness.”

Every year, the YES program at CPI helps over 200 young people get back on track with their education and career goals. Students enrolled in YES are considered financially needy, living in poverty or in low-income homes. Many have already dropped out of school, are pregnant or parenting, or are part of the foster care system. With incomplete educations and limited job prospects, and lacking financial resources, these are young people who all too often are destined for lives of crime or gang activity and for whom homelessness and despair are frequent companions.

Money raised by the students at Leesville Road High will go directly towards the purchase of desktop and laptop computers, which YES students use to take online GED courses, search for jobs online, and improve basic math and reading skills. CPI is currently raising money to build the Wake County YES Youth Center, which will feature a computer lab, resource library, and safe haven room.

“The timing of this gift couldn’t be better,” said Fisher. “We just kicked off our fund drive for the Youth Center and, thanks to the students at Leesville Road High, these computers will truly have a place of honor.”