BUILDING SOCIAL CAPITAL THROUGH YOUTH EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVES
Welcoming Our First Executive Director: Antoinette Daye
We’re excited to share that Antoinette Daye has joined Youth.Work.Connect. as our first Executive Director. Antoinette is a dynamic, mission-driven leader with more than 20 years of experience in education, workforce development, and community engagement. She currently serves as a high school Career Development Coordinator at Durham Public Schools and will continue in this role while leading our organization.
In her role at Youth.Work.Connect., Antoinette will lead our efforts to build strong partnerships with schools, employers, workforce boards, and civic organizations across the Research Triangle. She will also track emerging trends and opportunities in youth workforce development to keep our programming innovative and relevant, and will recruit, support, and develop our growing team of staff and volunteers.
Co-founder Maria Blewitt shared, “We are thrilled that Antoinette brings such extensive experience in youth workforce development to our organization and believe that she is a leader who will expand our impact in the Research Triangle area.”
Antoinette added, “I am honored to bring together educators, employers, families, and community leaders to help young people thrive, discover their purpose, and step confidently into their future.”
Look for Antoinette at upcoming Youth.Work.Connect. events and in our work with local schools and employers in the months ahead.
We were pleased to host a workshop at NCWorks’ 2025 Partnership Conference in October.
Our workshop was called 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀. We had an engaging discussion with youth career counselors and other workforce development professionals about the importance of social capital. We also led two exercises, the first one on Relationship Mapping.
Key takeaways from the Relationship Mapping exercise included:
- Youth have existing networks and can use them as a source of career information
- Adult allies can broaden youth networks by making introductions to individuals who can be good sources of career information
- Youth may need assistance preparing for interactions with their professional connections
Our second exercise allowed us to introduce our Career Skills and Connections framework and how building job skills builds social capital. The key takeaways included:
- Job descriptions and skills assessment can highlight tangible ways for youth to build their social capital
- Meaningful work assignments can help youth build or demonstrate their skills
- Resumes that highlight new or improved skills are both self-reflective for the youth and can lead to the next career move
The Conference gave us a great opportunity to share our perspectives and learn from so many seasoned professionals.
LET’S STAY CONNECTED
We would appreciate your thoughts on our initiative and welcome opportunities to collaborate. You can reach us at info@youthworkconnect.org and we look forward to staying connected.
