For Immediate Release
June 14 , 2004

Baltimore MD:

What: The YO! Baltimore Graduation Ceremony

When: Thursday, June 17, 2004, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Where: Johns Hopkins University Shriver Hall
3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore

Description: The Youth Opportunity (YO!) Baltimore Graduation Ceremony gives YO! members a chance to experience the graduation they never had. The youth participating in the graduation came to YO! as high school dropouts wanting to turn their lives around and receive their diplomas. This ceremony honors the achievements of the YO! graduating class of 2004. In addition, YO! will honor its first member to earn a bachelor’s degree, Chanie Carlton who graduated from Randolph Macon College in Virginia, and its second member to earn an associates degree, Ryant Cain.

At this year’s ceremony, 61 YO! members will walk across stage and receive a certificate of achievement. Through the first 3 years and 10 months of Youth Opportunity, 131 members have earned their GEDs and 478 more have either returned to, or remained in, school and earned their high school diplomas for a total of 491. An added 206 members are currently enrolled in college, and 118 YO! members are interning in different companies throughout Baltimore City.

Selected as this year’s keynote speaker, Robert Pruitt specializes in the development of programs that provide youth and young adults an opportunity for personal growth. Other guest speakers include Karen Sitnick, director of the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development.

An initiative of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board Youth Council, Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, and multiple workforce partners, YO! Baltimore is a program that offers a broad array of education, work readiness and personal development resources and activities to Empowerment Zone youth and young adults.