NEW ORLEANS — Lyft, the fastest growing rideshare company in the U.S., is happy to enter into an official partnership with the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP), a local non-profit dedicated to helping underserved youth in the Greater New Orleans community through mentoring, education, employment training & enrichment programs.
The partnership specifically services youth in YEP’s Work and Learn Center (W&L), a training program for young people aged 16-24, who are taught vital hard and soft skills to help them obtain and keep employment. Lyft is the official transportation partner of the W&L, making drivers available to take students to and from their trainings free of charge.
“This partnership with YEP is something that we are extremely proud of,” said Lyft Louisiana Market Manager Jessica Inman. “To have the opportunity to make responsible, reliable and complimentary service available to our community in a way that truly makes an impact, is something Lyft is committed to in New Orleans.”
In addition to complimentary transportation, Lyft provides flexibility for Work and Learn participants, who might need to get to and from after-hour trainings, during the week, weekend or even in the case of a family emergency.
“Our new partnership with Lyft has been helpful for youth making the transition to employment to be able to work later hours and on the weekends, when public transportation is less frequent or unavailable in some parts of the city. We use the Lyft platform in conjunction with public transportation to help young people be more self-sufficient and to assist them in emergency situations. In many cases, the youth we serve do not have reliable access to a private vehicle,” said YEP Co-Founder & Executive Director/CEOMelissa Sawyer.
The program is currently available for all YEP Work and Learn Center participants with many already taking advantage of the benefit.
“Thanks to YEP’s partnership with Lyft I had reliable transportation to get to and from my job when I had to work weekends, when my bus wouldn’t run or if I had to work late at night. Otherwise, I had to walk 30-minutes to the closest bus stop. Instead, YEP staff would call a Lyft for me and drivers would arrive within minutes and I never had to wait long,” said YEP W&L participant Deshanna.
For more information about YEP and their programming, visit their website here.
