Hopeworks Alumna at the National Youth Employment Coalition Conference

This year, Amber Williams, a Hopeworks alumna and CRIB resident attended the National Youth Employment Coalition Conference held in Washington D.C. There she was able to participate in various panel discussions and provide a youth perspective on the challenges of gaining employment. During the breakout sessions, Amber learned valuable information about youth and workforce development from non-profit professionals all around the country. For instance, she was able to hear about the challenges nonprofits experience while trying to create a pathway for youth success and how they overcome them. Still, in many instances, Amber says she was the “expert” through the first-hand experience in trauma-informed care and from having served with AmeriCorps for a year. Amber added that this experience reinforced her own desires to create an organization and to continue working with youth in workforce development.

Currently, Amber is a team leader in an AmeriCorps program run by JEVS Human Services, known as TechServ. This program provides STEM education to underserved communities while also providing real-world work experience to the young adults that they employ.

The NYEC Conference was Amber’s first opportunity to attend an out of state conference for work and says that it was “a super exciting experience.”