(Billy Calzada/Express-News) Stephen grant and his daughter, Syria, show off his certificate of completion for the Youth Opportunity Program and Lynd Company Inc. training course. 'This was a real blessing,' the 22-year-old Grant said of the program.

He'd lived in poverty and Section 8 housing all his life, but he enrolled in San Antonio College to study business courses to prepare. Then his girlfriend, a hotel maid, got pregnant. Grant took a $10-an-hour job delivering sodas to stores until his car was totaled in an accident. Then he landed at Fat Tuesday's as a bouncer checking IDs for $6.50 an hour.

It was a tough way to take care of his young family.

Then Grant learned about a new pilot project run by the American Opportunity for Housing and Alamo Workforce Development's Youth Opportunity Program. The project would arrange internships and guaranteed job interviews with private companies for at-risk young adults — some who are homeless, dropouts or convicted criminals. The Lynd Co., a large apartment management firm, had agreed to be the guinea pig.

It was the first time a private company took on the additional risk in helping the job training agency train its 2000 young clients for career-oriented jobs.

The pilot went so well in the fall that Lynd Co. sees a "strong possibility that several (pilot participants) will be hired in leasing agent positions," said David Lynd, the company's chief operating officer. The lucky hires will be notified this week.

"Sometimes people just need a second chance," Lynd said.

Lynd will more than double his interns to at least 15 this semester. AOH expanded to include internships with Big Ike's Landscaping and Metropolitan Health. It's also applying to have interns manage a Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop in the future.

In the past, these troubled young adults have struggled to convince employers to hire them.

"They often wind up working in Burger King and McDonald's all their lives and never get any experience with college," AOH special projects director Matthew Starr said.

AOH, which owns 23 affordable housing apartment complexes in San Antonio, asked its property manager, the Lynd Co. to help with training. AOH got Youth Opportunity and Alamo Community College District to create industry-specific curricula that gives the interns college credit. Students received a $400 monthly stipend, paid partly by Lynd Co.

"People who live in low-income housing don't get that many opportunities, so this was a real blessing," 22-year-old Grant said after going through the semester of property management classes and internship. He persuaded his girlfriend and a brother to enroll in the expanded program.

Fellow interns said the program broadened their view about career options while letting them test-drive one field.

"It worked really well because they informed us with the information we would need in class and then we were able to put it to work in the apartment settings," said Julie Skinner, 28, who has switched college majors several times and tried day care work in searching for a satisfying career.

For Audrey Acuña, a 20- year-old single mom of three children, the internship provided a clear career path. She had dropped out of school in 11th grade and got her GED but felt stuck in retail selling women's clothing.

"If this program had not been available, I never would have known that property management was something I'd enjoy," she said. "Every time I went to work in retail, I couldn't see myself going anywhere. Now, as David Lynd put it, {lsquo}We can advance if we work hard.' "

That eagerness to work attracted Isaac Ramirez, owner of Big Ike's Landscaping.

"It's hard to find a job, but also hard for me to find good workers," said Ramirez, who handles groundskeeping for 61 apartments. Many of his Mexican seasonal workers have left. The program will pick up the slack by providing him 10-12 interns just as the Texas live oaks begin to shed their leaves this year.

Ramirez said he was also reassured by the program's extra security measures. Youth Opportunity also carefully screened and drug-tested its applicants before accepting them in the program. Attendees spent two weeks learning about customer service and office decorum before starting internships, and agency officials accompanied the interns during workdays.

"I will help with the entrepreneurial angles of the class, and if an intern is a really good worker, I may hire them to stay on," Ramirez said. "I'm always looking for good workers."

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