What We Do
Prepare Young Adults for the Workplace
All Leaders Must Serve (ALMS) is a multi-faceted, wraparound service and support system that extends beyond the availability of the government and businesses that offer only mainstream resources. Available weekdays, evenings, and weekends, ALMS Mentors and the ALMS social support system walk alongside young adults from high school to the adult living-wage workforce. Whether success comes immediately or after years of personal growth and development, ALMS youth are equipped by seeing the program through to completion (initially 10 weeks). They are given the tools to accomplish and excel in their personal and workplace goals.
ALMS reaches out to the socially, emotionally, and economically disadvantaged high school and college-age youth who are unprepared for the adult workforce. ALMS can bridge the gap between high school and a living wage job by providing practical and technical training not offered in Woodland. ALMS helps offset racial, economic, and academic disparities with professional and community networks, financial assistance, and long-term mentoring services. ALMS provides a healthy family surrogate when positive role-modeling may not be occurring at home. Youth struggling to figure out life get a second chance to build confidence, interpersonal skills, and to experience a sense of belonging, which empowers and encourages responsibility and empathy for others.
Strong relationships developed within the ALMS surrogate family help counteract negative influences, behaviors, and attitudes that may have been learned or experienced through other sources. Positive qualities replace negatives ones which contribute to better relationships in the workplace, and value to future employers, a primary contribution of ALMS to the community.
Our experience has confirmed that most young adults want to be self-sufficient and self-managed. They simply do not know how or where to find help. They do not trust easily and shy away from agency-based services/resources that may stigmatize them with a label. Many are taught at home not to trust strangers or share family information. To help establish rapport and credibility with youth, ALMS mentors intentionally and freely share their own stories of challenges they faced during their teen years and early twenties, as they help them find their own identities while navigating the pitfalls, pressures, and expectations of family and society at large.
Fear, disappointment, failure, and the ensuing shame, can be paralyzing in the life of a 15-25 year old. When a relationship begins, trust grows, plans develop, some accomplishments are realized and recognized - then anxiety subsides, defenses lower, lessons coagulate, and finally confidence and self-sufficiency take root.