With a $10,000 grant from the Liberty Foundation, My Brother’s Workshop in St. Thomas continues to provide education, counseling and training services for at-risk youth in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI).
“Through the support of community partners like Liberty Foundation, we are able to provide hope, healing and purpose to the youth in our community,” said Chrystie Payne, communications director of My Brother’s Workshop. “We are so grateful for the support of Liberty Foundation that allows us to share our holistic approach of mentorship, education, mental health counseling, on-the-job training and job placement to young men and women in the USVI.”
The organization is using the grant to fund its MBW Workshop and its MBW Café & Bakery training program. Participants in the MBW workshop learn the basics of the construction trade, earn skills to work in the marine industry and study the principles of computer numerical control (CNC) and computer aided design (CAD) programming. Students enrolled in the MBW Café & Bakery program learn culinary arts and customer service skills that will help them land jobs in the restaurant industry.
“Providing access to education and training programs to young people ensures that they will be able to develop the job skills they need to support themselves and become productive members of their communities,” said Catherine Kling, commercial director at Liberty VI. “This is why we are so excited to support programs like the ones My Brother’s Workshop provides to at-risk youth in the USVI through this grant from Liberty Foundation.”
Founded in 2007, My Brother’s Workshop is a nonprofit organization that seeks to end youth crime in the USVI by empowering at-risk youth ages 16 to 24 in the USVI to lead better lives. The organization achieves this through a holistic approach that combines mentoring, education, mental health counseling, on the job training and job placement efforts. Currently, My Brother’s Workshop serves 150 male and female trainees who are enrolled in its vocational and educational programs.
Liberty Foundation has awarded over $277,500 in grants to nonprofit organizations in the USVI since 2020 to help fund a variety of community initiatives that support childcare, education, and environmental protection in the USVI.