Queens Community House Programs Connect with More NYC Youth through SYEP

This summer marked another season kickoff of Queens Community House’s (QCH) Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). Several QCH programs are currently participating as worksites to help New York City youth explore different interests and career pathways, develop productive workplace habits, and engage in learning experiences that strengthen their social, civic, and leadership skills.

In February 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that SYEP would be expanding this year to include 100,000 young people. Adams said the summer jobs program will help address public safety while introducing teens and young adults to new career opportunities.

Some of the QCH SYEP worksites include Queens Connect, a youth workforce program that trains and prepares out of school youth for successful careers in the food service and manufacturing sector, as well as YouthBuild, a youth workforce program that has helped young adults obtain construction skills training and attain their High School Equivalancy (HSE). “It’s incredible to see how eager and engaged the youth are with our programs for SYEP. We’ve been hearing how much the youth have been enjoying and learning, whether they are discovering new cooking methods with Chef Instructor Rob at Queens Connect, or gaining hands-on construction experience at YouthBuild. The past few years have been a challenging time for young people looking for opportunities to grow, so we need to reinforce the importance of helping the youth develop social, civic and leadership skills to prepare them for the future, and SYEP is a great way to do that" —Alexandria Sumpter-Delves, Division Director of Youth Workforce of QCH

For the first time in many years, QCH’s Generation Q program has taken on a cohort of SYEP youth. Generation Q is an LGBTQ+ youth program of QCH that provides a friendly, affirming environment with a wide variety of educational and recreational opportunities, as well as social and emotional support. “Our intention was to create an SYEP track that would be affirming for and intentionally curated for LGBTQ+ and allied youth. We are offering 4 tracks: lobbying and political activism, internal programming, external content creation and a facilitation and training track. Each of these tracks provide a glimpse into the work that we do allowing for the youth to make meaningful contributions to Generation Q as well as provide them with meaningful, transferrable skills.” —Lindsey Duel, Generation Q Program Director