About us

Lake Street Works brings hands-on training to the Lake Street neighborhood in our new facility, at no cost to students. After completing their courses, students are ready to be an apprentice in a trade or acquire additional skills at a technical school – which Lake Street Works will help facilitate. 

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The future is often uncertain, and sometimes daunting, for the youth of South Minneapolis. A 2018 study performed by DEED* found that 70% of high school students from our community pursue no additional education or career training after graduation. This lack of preparation leads to limited options for living-wage occupations and often results in a life of poverty or crime. Most disturbing is that this paradigm of a dismal future is the prevailing expectation of our youth and generations before them. 

 

Our strategy for transforming urban youth is Lake Street Works (LSW), a two-year workforce development program with a holistic approach to prepare 11th and 12th grade students with the life skills, character development, and trade experience necessary for a promising career in the construction industry. Through their enhanced earning capacity, and personal work ethic, they can break out of generational poverty. 

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