The Youth Work Skills (YWS) program was developed to help economically disadvantaged, out-of-school, high school-aged youth with reading abilities at or below the fifth-grade level become job ready. In 1992-93, YWS served 236 participants at 7 sites throughout New York (two sites each in Brooklyn and Buffalo and sites in the Bronx, Rochester, and Poughkeepsie). Sixty percent of the participants were female, 91% were African American, 7% were Hispanic; 43% were either 18 or 19 years old; and nearly 57% were receiving some welfare assistance. YWS participants' reading abilities ranged from first- to fifth-grade level. Participants demonstrated average grade level gains of 2.3 in reading and 2.0 in math, 80% demonstrated acceptable levels of mastery in world of work subtests, 20% obtained additional training after termination from the program, and 20% obtained unsubsidized employment. More than one-third of YWS participants were enrolled in General Educational Development (GED) test preparation, and 13% of those individuals were known to have actually obtained a GED certificate. The YWS participants scored higher in reading than 53% of adult offenders and 57% of juvenile offenders and higher in math than 67% of adult offenders and 73% of juvenile offenders. (MN)