In its second year, the employee-led Lozier Community Grant program supported 50 nonprofit organizations across the country. Recipients were selected by employee committees in all five Lozier locations.  Over the next couple of months, the recipient organizations’ stories of impact will be shared on LozierLink.

Goodwill Industries Omaha’s Youth Development Specialist Program trains individuals to work with the youth in the community. Through finding people who want to help teens navigate the tough decisions they make in life, Goodwill in Omaha teaches them specific skills and activities and things that they can do to move that forward and meet that goal.

“We teach them how to facilitate group settings so they learn how to do public speaking,” said Youth Development Specialist Jeanne Weidner. “They create lesson plans and presentations for the youth, and we also teach social emotional learning. That includes being able to have healthy relationships and communication, working with teens, self-awareness and self-management. So, each time that we do a lesson, we teach them activities and how to adapt it to youth.”

The program has a capacity of five student registered apprentices in each cohort which lasts five weeks, combining classroom work with outreach. As each apprentice graduates, their reach and the reach of the program increases through all the youth they interact with.

Funding from the Lozier Community Grant program will provide a stipend for the apprentices as they attend class. Many attending training are single parents, often working overnight shifts. The grant and stipend helps them have time to go out into the community and work at any organization that works with youth.

“That is the biggest goal, making sure that we are training people to go out and affect the lives and help kids navigate,” Weidner said. “I see every single one of them being really big powers within Omaha to help change youth. Kids just need somebody that’s going to tell them what their strengths are and help them to be their best selves. And that, to me, is such a strong and powerful need in our community.”

To learn more about the Goodwill Industries, visit the organizations website. For details on the Lozier Community Grant program, click here.