YouthBuild Free
U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Workforce Investment, Division of Youth Services · pre-apprenticeship-program
COST: Free (DOL grant-funded under WIOA §171; no participant fee is charged). A community-based pre-apprenticeship for people aged 16-24 who left school without a diploma, combining construction work on affordable housing with finishing secondary education; participants earn a diploma or equivalency plus vocational certifications in construction and also healthcare, IT and hospitality. The common misunderstanding: that you have to choose between finishing school and learning a trade — the entire design of YouthBuild is that you do both at once.
✓ Produces a high school diploma or equivalency plus vocational certifications, and is an explicit on-ramp to Registered Apprenticeship