Meet the woman behind the movement

Layla Bluefort, MSW is the proud mother of 3 adult daughters!  My biggest regret as a mom was deciding that my daughters were going to a 4 year college based on their grades as they matriculated through K-12.  I have to admit that I did not know about "Apprenticeships" and assumed that Skills and Trade routes were only for "at-risk" youth.  Like most moms I really wanted to be able to brag that my 3 daughters graduated from a 4 year University.  I also needed my daughters to be better than my 17 year old self that graduated high school, 8 months pregnant with a 1.67 GPA!  I realized that I was so busy setting goals for them that I never truly took the time to figure out "What problems they wanted to solve!"

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As my youngest daughter got into high school her behaviors and motivation at school changed.  In hindsight, I realized that what she was really saying was "Momma I don't want to go to college"!  However, when I started researching alternatives for her I realized that it wasn't easy. 

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I don't like that Skills and trades were taken out of the schools system and moved to the Criminal Justice System.  Nor do I like that I myself have over $200k in Student loan debt and the reality that I made a bad investment.

 

My goal is to provide access to all youth, ages 16-24 and their families, in Charlotte, NC and surrounding counties, cities, and states access to information on current job openings, internships, and/or apprenticeship opportunities, industry certifications opportunities, and on-the-job training available in skills and trade industries!