URBAN JOBS INITIATIVE

UJI is a 10 week paid youth "Mentorship for Purpose" program. UJI exists to establish Fellows in our urban centers and help them become competitive as scholars, employees and entrepreneurs in these communities and throughout the world.

UJI Spotlight

10 Week Paid "Mentorship for Purpose" Program in California

One thousand high school students ages sixteen and above from ten different urban centers across the U.S., fifty college student mentors and forty Titans of Industry from business, education, finance, government, politics, law, and arts and entertainment. Applications are available beginning June, 2019. Stay in touch and stay connected with us by submitting the form below. Fellows will have to be enrolled in high school to be considered for a Fellowship, however, neither grades nor test scores will be final consideration for acceptance into the UJI program. Any student with an imaginative spark, a strong work ethic and a desire to make a difference in their community will be considered.

Fellows collectively identify and select a seemingly intractable issue in their communities. They work together to agree on a solution to the problem and develop a sustainable plan to implement the solution. The large number comprising each Fellows group provides the opportunity to truly collaborate and address a significant issue in their respective communities while providing the knowledge and workforce to implement their plans.

Each urban center will house a UJI field office with staff run by an UJI Regional Director. These field offices will serve as a stable resource and work headquarters for our UJI Fellows when they return to their communities to implement their plans. These offices will be a place in which Fellows can gather, work and receive guidance to focus and shape their efforts.

Throughout the ten weeks and the year that follows, UJI Fellows will systematically record their progress and their personal reflections on their UJI experience. In addition, the UJI website and App will host behind the scene documentation of the UJI campaign including but not limited to mentor sessions, productions and team meetings. UJI Fellows will be able to interact with each other, their mentors, private and public resources and the general public. The public can interact with UJI Fellows, offer advice, suggestions and statements of support and encouragement. (The UJI website will be closely monitored for safety and security concerns.)

We provide an innovative approach to education through our UJI curriculum. Our Fellows interact with community leaders to form dynamic collaborative relationships that can last a lifetime. We teach Fellows how to rally community, how to craft and deliver messages and how to build and lead teams by working daily on real SIB projects.

UJI provides extraordinary opportunities for our Fellows to interact and network with one another, including working with mentors and Titans of Industry from different geographic areas and backgrounds. This provides our Fellows with diversity of culture, approach and a window to possibilities heretofore unimagined.

In the first two weeks of the UJI program ‍our Fellows and their Mentors get to know the Silence Is Broken and its evolution, they dive into our curriculum and begin identifying project goals. In the eight weeks that follow, we add a series of guest speakers, titans of industry, artists, and influencers to animate our curriculum. The ten week UJI Fellows program culminates in a three day arts and technology festival produced by our Fellows utilizing the skills and mentorship received throughout the UJI experience. During the Fellowship summer intensive, there will be business, arts and cultural events that Fellows will host and often invite the public to attend. They will use the knowledge gained from their studies to plan and then execute successful live and streaming events.

The Need For Mentoring

UJI is the way SIB is answering the call to employ and mentor teenagers on the fringes of our society. We offer our Fellows a game changing look into the future to see and understand process, duty, empathy, creativity and purpose all in service to an idea bigger than themselves and built through their own ingenuity and collaboration.

Drop Out Rates

Every year, approximately over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States.

Unemployment Rates

Youth unemployment rates in the United States increased to 9.2% in January 2018 from 8.9% in December 2017.

Incarceration Rates

On any given day in the United States approximately 47,000 youths (ages 10 through 17) are incarcerated.

Consequences

Studies show elevated school drop out and unemployment rates have an enormous impact on public health not only because of the increased risk for drug abuse but also with respect to the issues of poverty, access to health care and increased number of health problems and disease.

College enrollment

Youth in America who have access to a mentor are 55% more likely to enroll in college, 78% more likely to volunteer regularly, 90% are interested in becoming a mentor and 130% more likely to hold leadership positions.

Constructive habits

Studies show that youth who engage in community service are 50% less likely to abuse alcohol, cigarettes, become pregnant, or engage in other destructive behavior.

Respect for others

Teens who are active in community report they learn to respect others, learn to be helpful and kind, learn about people who are different, develop leadership skills, become more patient and develop a better understanding of citizenship.

Community service

Youth who are involved in community service are three times more likely to continue that service as adults.

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