Building Better Lives

Mary Pat Christie, first lady of New Jersey, came to Newark this past Friday to honor one “hero” -- and wound up meeting a dozen young heroes-in-the-making too.

The wife of Gov. Chris Christie visited the Central Avenue headquarters of YouthBuild Newark to honor its founder Robert Clark, the first alumnus of the decades-old YouthBuild program to go on to found a center of his own.

Christie also had the chance to meet with instructors and students of the center, which serves young adults resuming their education after experiencing various life challenges. 

“I want to say thank you. I’m truly humbled,” Clark told the state’s first lady, shortly before she presented a $5,000 check for the educational center.

Christie and her husband first honored a number of outstanding New Jerseyans during the governor’s 2010 inauguration. Gratified by the experience, “I decided to keep on doing it,” Christie said to an audience of teachers and students gathered in a YouthBuild conference room.

Clark, who completed a YouthBuild course in Boston about 20 years ago, is the second “hero” honored by Christie this year.

Students at YouthBuild, who range in age from 16 to 24, learn the basics of construction trades like plumbing and carpentry while also taking classwork to prepare them for a GED, which Clark said is the program’s “endgame.”

But YouthBuild is only nominally about academics and job training. The real purpose of the program is to imbue young people who have suffered setbacks in their lives with a sense of achievement, setting them on a path towards accomplishing their life goals.

Some students were homeless before coming to YouthBuild. Others have had some brushes with the law. Still others have struggled with addiction.

Now, though, all of them have committed to an ideal  summed up in YouthBuild’s credo, which each student most not only memorize, but believe in.

“As a community we are engaged in a united struggle to overcome the social, political, economic educational and spiritual inequities which led to destroy us as a people,” the students recited in unison.

One young woman told Christie she joined YouthBuild because “right after I had my baby I knew I had to help myself.” She now plans to move into an apartment March 1, another life goal she reached with the help of YouthBuild.

Another student, David, told Christie about the program’s boot camp ethos -- students in YouthBuild must demonstrate their commitment to improving their lives first before they gain admission.

‘It gave me a sense of pride to say I fought for the position” in the program, David said.

Another student, Robert, said the program “gave me a second chance. I’m so thankful for YouthBuild.”

“You guys are an amazing group of young people,” Christie said. “The changes you made in your lives are really inspiring.”