Children's Home Society of Florida YouthWorks, in partnership with the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners Department of Community Affairs, is hosting a Youth Resource Expo on Monday, March 30, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Marie K. Young Wedgewood Community Center & Park (6405 Wagner Road). The purpose of the Expo is to connect youth in our community to resources that will help them to be successful. The event is free and open to all youth (21 and under), parents and professionals in our community.
In March of 2014 CHS YouthWorks hosted a Breaking Barriers: Real Talk Conference for the at-risk youth in our community. Over 150 youth, community members, professionals, businesses and organizations joined us in identifying what barriers the youth in our community are facing and how we can work together to break those barriers. Youth from all walks of life (delinquent, dependent, homeless, parenting, disabled, incarcerated, high school, middle school and college) sat down together and genuinely expressed and discussed their barriers and the services they were seeking to help them succeed. Education, employment, mentoring and transportation were the top four barriers mentioned by the majority of the participants.
Fortunately, the community of Escambia County provides all the services that the youth are seeking to eliminate their barriers to success. The Youth Resource Expo will link them with community providers that offer the services (as well as many others) they have identified as a need to assist in their success. We have more than 50 vendors that will provide information, services and referrals for education, employment, mentoring, transportation, housing, mental health, health, legal and more.
For more information please contact Eunicia Giuchici, Children’s Home Society of Florida-YouthWorks, at (850) 266-2715 or [email protected] or Shurlitha Jones, Escambia County Department of Community Affairs, at (850) 595-1622 or [email protected] .
