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!
