MultiCare Youth Foundation, Starbucks Help YUTE

The Multicare Youth Foundation (MYF), in partnership with Starbucks and the HEART Trust NTA, recently launched the second phase of its Starbucks YUTE Work project in Kingston at the Trench Town Polytechnic College.

The initiative, which began in April 2018 in Kingston and Montego Bay, with funding from the United States-based Starbucks Foundation, is providing skills training and certification in food and beverage hosting, life skills, internships, financial support, and mentorship for 60 at-risk youth residing in inner-city communities.

With the youth unemployment rate at a low of 19 per cent, Sharlene Brooks, project officer at The MultiCare Youth Foundation, stated that the organisation would carry on efforts to continue the trajectory.

“The MultiCare Youth Foundation is continuing its efforts to contribute to this downward trend through education and skills training for unattached young people between the ages of 16 and 29 years,” Brooks said.

“Our youth beneficiaries are bursting with potential and are just in need of skills and social support to enter the workforce and become productive citizens. We believe that fostering the education of youth, especially those that have little access to it, will make a difference in reducing the attraction to crime and violence in our nation.”

By the end of the project, the Starbucks YUTE Work protégés should be equipped with sufficient knowledge and skills to make them marketable assets within the hospitality industry.

Following four months of skills training, each participant will receive three months of internship placements at various hotels, restaurants, and food service organisations within the industry.

“It is our hope that the project will be extended to accommodate even more young persons in the coming year as MYF aims to increase its impact in other regions of the island,” Brooks said.

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