P2S is our gap year program that offers post-secondary scholars the opportunity to attain skills and experiences while providing them time to reflect and focus on what they want to do next.

Our goal is for students to identify their career or post-secondary goal(s), develop a pathway plan, and complete the program with credentials that strengthen their post-secondary and career access.

Through our professional apprenticeship model, P2S is designed to provide post-secondary pathways to career attainment and success. The foundational elements of this model are Employment, Exposure, and Exploration. Students can gain income through our year-round youth employment program, where they serve as youth leaders, develop real-world work experience, and practice current and newly developed skills.

Throughout the year, P2S students complete projects based on community service and outreach interests. Through a social justice and civic engagement lens, it supports cultivating the knowledge, experience and skills to identify and address the cause of inequity, inequality, cultural criticism and the mechanisms of social change. P2S students are also exposed to different approaches to identifying problems and creating solutions through civic engagement, event planning, and peer mentoring.

P2S students engage in career exploration through our numerous networking events, such as our Road to Success Rountables series, which include panels, 1-on-1 dialogues, career information sessions, and hands-on exploration with our partners from various trades and career fields.

Student quote to use:

“Two words that sum up my experience last year with PUSH to Start is impactful and resourceful. Even though freedom house is small in staff size, scholars can still experience different paths through freedom house. Each year we end up making progress and putting smiles on every face through the resources that are provided and the kindness and support from the staff.” – Emmanual Duncan