Chad Swenson has been the Employment Specialist/WIA Case Coordinator here at YEI since April of 2010. Chad graduated with a degree in Behavioral Science from Metropolitan State College of Denver, Colorado in 2001. Chad’s first professional experience was as a behavioral therapist working with autistic children helping them to develop their social and academic skills. From there he realized his dream of living and working in a foreign country by joining the Peace Corps for two years. He was assigned to work in the Eastern European country of Albania as a Community Development Advisor with an emphasis on youth development. During this experience he learned that there are many similarities between the struggles and roadblocks of at-risk youth here in the U.S. and at-risk youth in foreign countries, which is basically how to find their adult identity in the world through education and finding a career, while navigating the problems all youth go through during adolescence. Chad took this unique experience to Portland and has been helping at-risk youth to build their roadmap towards becoming independent and productive young citizens ever since, first as a case manager, then running a literacy program for students with dyslexia, and now in his current position with YEI as Employment Specialist.