Wal-Mart makes $50,000 grant to YouthBuild

Clarence Lee Jimmie acknowledges that the YouthBuild program has changed his life - allowing him to earn his GED and providing support to help him put his life on a positive course.

On Wednesday, Jimmie added his voice to a chorus of testimonials about YouthBuild as Wal-Mart officials awarded a $50,000 grant to the dropout recovery and affordable low-income housing construction program.

The grant will provide funds for eight to 10 people like Jimmie to complete the program, said Greg V. Flores, YouthBuild program director for the Community Development Corp. of Brownsville.

YouthBuild links job training, classroom instruction and affordable housing construction to help recent high school dropouts get their General Education Degree. Program participants are paid to build low-income housing. Along the way they get classroom instruction for their GED and learn job skills that will pay off later.

"I dropped out in the 11th grade because I wasn't meeting my credits," Jimmie said. After being out of school for awhile, I realized my mistake. YouthBuild was my second chance."

Jimmie recently received his GED, is enrolled in fall classes at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College and is looking for a job.

"It's a shame but 50 percent of the students that start high school next week will not finish in four years," said Nick Mitchell-Bennett, CDCB deputy executive director.

"We're here to make sure they do finish ... on the field building houses and in the classroom. This grant will provide support for eight to 10 students to get their GED and go forward," Mitchell-Bennett said.

Gloria Jean Cárdenas-Meyer of Los Fresnos is living proof the program works.

Coming to YouthBuild as an 11th-grade dropout and single mother in 1997, Cárdenas-Meyer earned her GED and went on to work in the heating and air-conditioning business.

Later, she earned her bachelor's degree in sociology from UTB-TSC and is six hours away from her getting her master's.

"We live in our own house that I designed and helped build," Cárdenas-Meyer said. "My daughter and I plan to open it as a bed and breakfast."