Ventures in Community Improvement (VICI) is a program that provides intensive training in construction skills to disadvantaged youth and at the same time allows them to produce tangible improvements in housing and public facilities in their own low-income communities. The model was tested twice previously, once in an eight-state demonstration that served 16- to 19-year-olds (in the late 1970s) and once in a demonstration involving women aged 18 to 35 (in the mid-1980s). Both demonstrations confirmed the model's effectiveness in helping disadvantaged persons earn higher wages than their counterparts who were not served by the program. A third demonstration of the VICI model was conducted in four cities: the Bay Area of northern California; Cleveland, Ohio; Houston, Texas, and Dallas, Texas, between 1984 and 1987. These projects, which were sponsored by Standard Oil/BP America, served both men and women between the ages of 18 and 24 in several cycles over an 18-month period. Despite the fact that this third demonstration was conducted in a climate of reduced national funding, all had positive outcomes. The VICI trainees produced work of tangible value, and in the two sites where a work value analysis was conducted, the value of the work produced exceeded the wages paid to the trainees. Overall, the job placement rates in the third demonstration were slightly higher than those of the two previous demonstrations. Moreover, two sites and one cycle from a third site surpassed the job placement rates produced by the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) system, with postprogram wages across the sites 40 percent higher than those earned by JTPA trainees. (MN)