Tools Up Foundation's mission is building our communities, with the community! Underdeveloped talent, economic disadvantage, and safety gaps, plague the african american men and women of Cook County Chicago, especially within the Grand Crossing and surrounding neighborhoods. We will take the charge, and engage our neighboring communities offering our entire Tools Up Foundation ecosystem, which includes providing stipends, social & emotional mentorship, mental health coaching, case management & trauma-informed support services, as well as construction vocation. 

Our target constituency starts with teenagers ages 14-17, developing family value perspectives, and providing guidance that promote mental stability within impressionable youth who are at high risk of gun violence. Teens will benefit from all supervised activities during peak hours of gun violence during both the academic school year and summer break. Teens will learn marketable construction technology skills that could set the stage for financial security as adults, as they graduate and transition into our 18 years old and up, Pave the Way Up pre-apprenticeship program.