Youth helping youth

If you think cubbies are a luxury, you've never seen a room full of children. And their backpacks.

Crews of students from Rancho Cielo, a program that helps at-risk youth get vocational training and a high school diploma, helped students of the Youth Orchestra Salinas by building cubbies at Sherwood Hall, where YOSAL students take their music lessons every day. YOSAL serves more than 40 school children every school day at Sherwood Hall and at a couple of other sites in the Salinas City Elementary School District.

The Rancho Cielo Youth Corps is a paid crew-based job program for youths aged 18-24, preparing them for regular full-time employment. The crews work together to build furniture in their woodshop. For more information and photos of furniture for sale, click here. www.ranchocieloyc.org.

YOSAL is growing this summer, starting a second site in Salinas, and a nucleo in King City in the fall. Over time, they plan to expand both the geographies served as well as the age range of the students. The mission of El Sistema USA/Salinas is to transform the lives of our youth and our communities through the inspiration, discipline and performance of classical orchestral music.For more information: http://www.youthorchestrasalinas.org