2019 was an extremely fun and impactful year. This was our biggest group to date. We were able to place 32 youth in summer internships! 29 were placed and supervised directly through LYI and 3 of them were placed through SummerWorks.

This was our first year partnering with SummerWorks. With their guidance we were able to increase our training from 30 to 45 hours and include their New World of Work Curriculum that emphasizes the 5 top employability skills: Self-awareness, Communication, Adaptability, Problem-Solving and Collaboration.

This were we also went all out at the Lents Street Fair. We ran various booths: Root beer floats, balloon figure making station, face painting, rock painting, a housing conditions survey, which you can read the report here, and street painting design feedback.

We were also able to celebrate our successful year with a trip to Oaks Park which helped further our team building and made us step outside of our comfort zone.

Another fun event was the street painting and block party! This project was funded by Prosper Portland’s Community Livability Grant. It is considered the second largest painting in the city. We had over 85 attendees from the community and enjoyed bringing color and live to our neighborhood. We’re looking forward to repainting in years to come.