Welcome
Founded in 1973, the Youth Employment Partnership, Inc. (YEP) is the largest and most experienced private nonprofit youth and young adult employment training agency in the San Francisco Bay Area. YEP’s mission is to enhance the employment and educational opportunities of underserved Oakland youth and young adults by providing training, job placement, access to education, and comprehensive support services. YEP operates from the core belief that moving teens and young adults into stable, high-demand, living wage jobs is most effectively done through simultaneous education and work experience. Over the course of our history, YEP has served more than 20,000 low-income youth and young adults. Of these, more than 90% have completed the training programs in which they were enrolled, and more than 80% have benefited from placement in meaningful employment and/or advanced education.
Summer Jobs
YEP leads the Mayor's Summer Jobs Program. Youth 14-21 complete pre-training workshops, and are placed into paid summer employment that matches their interests. In 2010, YEP helped 1,159 Oakland youth build a work history through the summer jobs program.
Afterschool Jobs
Students 15-18 can participate in a 10-hour per week afterschool job as an incentive to maintain satisfactory grades and attendance at school. The afterschool job can also be an incentive for a disconnected student to substantially improve attendance through our partnership with OUSD to provide special circumstances work permits to students not otherwise eligible to work. Students with a special circumstances work permit have a semester to improve attendance and to attain at least a 2.0 GPA.
Young Adult Career Try-Out
Young adults 18-24 participate in up to 20 hours per week of subsidized employment, with each work hour matched with an hour of education. Participants may choose construction, customer service, office, or nonprofit job experience. Those without a high school diploma receive GED instruction on-site, and our teachers provide support and guidance to students as they complete financial aid and enrollment processes for community college.