Robert Clark is the Founding Executive Director of YouthBuild Newark, Inc. (YBN). Under his leadership, YBN has become a national model for effective juvenile justice/re-entry programming and successful educational programming for out-of-school youth.
As an alumnus of YouthBuild Boston, he has an unparalleled passion for youth development. He attributes a significant portion of his success to having had key mentors who shared their personal secrets to success. In 2011, his vision to establish an additional vehicle through which over-aged, under-credited young adults could access educational opportunities was realized when YouthBuild Newark partnered with the Newark Public Schools (NPS) to create the Newark Leadership Academy (NLA) – an alternative vocational high school that is based upon YBN’s youth development model. NLA essentially helps to recover out-of-school youth. NPS, soon after, tapped Robert to serve as special consultant to create a long-term strategy for alternative education and the comprehensive high schools. This effort has resulted in a wide-ranging, multi-pronged plan by which Newark’s high school students are better assessed and placed into schools and/or other vocational/program options that are customized to their individual needs. |