Youthbuild

Human beings have a universal desire to be cared about, to care about others, and to belong to a community in which people care about each other. In our society, we have put a religious label on, and religions have given voice to, this need to care and belong. However, this is a deep spiritual need that transcends religion, social class, nationality, and all forms of identity. If we do not fulfill this fundamental spiritual need, we will not fulfill the deepest aspirations of humanity. When we do fulfill it, we liberate the best in the human psyche. If we want to raise children and youth who are good citizens, who fulfill their potential, and who take leadership for a better world, they need to belong to something that allows them to explicitly define their desire to serve and care and make a difference.

This is a spiritual need that exists independent of religion as well as within religion. It needs to be understood by secular humanists, named, spoken to, and welcomed within our programs of social change and human development.

The importance of this need is particularly apparent among disconnected youth. There are 5.4 million 16- to 24-year-old young people in America who are unemployed and not in school. More than 2 million of them are poor, and an additional 365,000 are in prison. These young people have fallen off the edge of society. For most of them, their academic, employment, social, and spiritual development are stalled, or in reverse, moving toward powerless despair, antisocial withdrawal, or acting out. They are at serious risk of becoming permanently disconnected from positive community and productive lifestyles.

Yet they are fairly easily reclaimed. The right combination of opportunities within a caring community can awaken an enormous desire to build a positive life and give back to families and communities. Having experienced profoundly difficult life crises and family problems, many of these young people hold just under the surface a passionate desire to help make the world a better place. They have seen the underside of society, and if given a chance, they would like to change it.

YouthBuild is an example of a program for young people that produces inspiring results for thousands of out-of-school and out-of-work youth and young adults. In it young people build housing for homeless and low-income people while attending a YouthBuild alternative school. It has been authorized and funded as a program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development since 1993. There are now 200 YouthBuild programs in 44 states. About 55,000 youth have participated since the first YouthBuild was started in 1978 in East Harlem.

YouthBuild is not a religious organization, yet its directors consider the program “faith based” in the secular sense, given that it espouses faith in humanity, faith in the power of love and opportunity as change agents, and faith in the sacred value of every human being no matter how damaged the person may have been by past experiences. The program believes in collective ventures to enhance the well-being of communities and society.

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