Teen Apprentice—Partnerships With Local Business

In the spring of 2018, Crosswalk Teen Center launched a brand new Teen Apprenticeship program that focuses on facilitating career training and job placement.  With a focus on mentorship and apprenticeship of the teen worker we have evaluated their interests and have encouraged the exploration of skilled trades. To date, eight teens have successfully participated in courses teaching communication skills, work ethics, workplace conflict resolution, professionalism, interview preparation, investment planning, boss expectations, resume writing, personal 

Lighting Services. Through their post-course employment, teens continue to learn careers skills as they work as electrician assistants, cooks, factory line workers, office assistants, and personal assistants.
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Crosswalk has maintained a one-on-one job coach mentorship with the teens to encourage and help to further develop these new apprentices.  The teens of Crosswalk are great ambassadors of our program; business leaders have given great feedback on each new hire, and in many cases expressed interest in hiring additional teens from the program. We are  ​

budgeting and banking. Community leaders including: Neal Rohrs, Shelli Burdo, Courtney Anderson, Amy Price and Mary Douma have been instrumental in teaching these sessions to teens. In addition to helping teens prepare to be great employees, the team at Crosswalk assisted in pairing teen-workers with local businesses that matched their interests. The graduates of the Teen Apprenticeship program were hired by local businesses Diversified Financial Advisors, Spartan Motors, The Eaton Place, John Boy Electric, Charlotte Anodizing, Broadway Acres, and Hulinek's ​

thrilled with the results and are excited to launch a third course in the spring of 2019. Our goal is to introduce teens to amazing career opportunities.  The possibilities are endless for our teens, with 15,000 new trades positions being added annually here in Michigan!