With art as its vehicle, HeARTworks, Art with a Heart’s Workforce Development Program, provides a collaborative space for opportunity youth, ages 14 to 24, to experience a structured work environment while building job readiness and life skills.
Participants create marketable art to sell in Art with a Heart’s social enterprise and retail store, HeARTwares, and receive a daily stipend contingent upon attendance and timeliness. Young people learn to think creatively about their personal goals and future plans, and each session offers them a sense of belonging and accomplishment. HeARTworks helps participants learn the procedures of a workplace, engages students in a program with concrete expectations and structure, and provides the experience of working in a retail store and interacting with the public in a meaningful way.
Art with a Heart is continually working to build a job pipeline for HeARTworks graduates and refers HeARTworks graduates to several employers/paid occupational skills training providers with whom Art with a Heart has cultivated relationships. Art with a Heart also has an apprenticeship program where successful HeARTworks graduates with an interest in the arts can continue to work in HeARTwares and learn more about social enterprise and entrepreneurship.
Support HeARTworks by purchasing handmade art from HeARTwares, Art with a Heart’s social enterprise store.
WHAT OUR PARTICIPANTS SAY
“I enjoyed the program because something I created could be useful to someone while I earned money for my hard work. The program [is] positive and taught me to be more mature and prepared for a real job.”
“The program helped me to break out of my shell and I was becoming a better person each day of the program.”
“This program changed my life in multiple ways, the people here are amazing and… I felt as though it was a privilege to be here.”
CUSTOM ORDER A WORK OF ART
Do you need a unique gift for the holidays, or a birthday, wedding, anniversary, or another special event? What could be better than a handmade work of art, created by Art with a Heart students, interns, and volunteers!
