YouthBuild in Nassau Builds Futures

Growing up on Terrace Avenue in Hempstead, Tayshaun Wilson, 24, got into dealing drugs - and stayed there until an arrest three years ago got him thinking about his future.

The prospect of a career in construction attracted him, but without a high school degree, he found steady work elusive.

Wilson found a chance to achieve both goals last fall when he joined the first cohort in Nassau County to participate in YouthBuild, a community development program that equips at-risk youth with job skills and a high school equivalency diploma while enlisting them to rebuild their own neighborhoods.

"I got tired of doing jobs for four months and being let go. A career like this - you could actually become stable financially," he said.

Last month, the YouthBuild Long Island affiliate kicked off a project in Hempstead to renovate the Campbell Park community center, a one-story building on Evans Avenue that has been shuttered since 2000, according to a village spokeswoman.

On a recent morning, 10 students ages 18 to 24 set about dismantling the components of the roughly 2,000-square-foot structure, prying off rusty radiator covers, unscrewing light fixtures and removing sinks and toilets.

The process is called deconstruction, YouthBuild Long Island director Rick Wertheim said. It's an environmentally sound alternative to demolition and is gaining traction, he said, because it involves recyc-ling valuable materials, reusing parts that are still intact and segregating toxic materials. "Right now, you're looking at the next green-collar workforce," Wertheim said. "We want them to be proactive in their communities."

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