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Michael loves working with young people, and he sees nature as one of the best educational tools for technical, social and emotional learning skills.

Young people that come to our program may not have a lot of experience with woodworking or with camping, but by embarking on a new journey, they learn new skills such as problem solving, working with a team and giving and receiving feedback.

Michael Wurth

Hand-Crafted

For more than 20, years Urban Boatbuilders has provided youth with hands-on learning and capacity building opportunities to establish and develop lifelong transferable skills.

Youth are taught not only how to build boats but how to grow as individuals through financially literacy training, mock interviewing, resume-writing workshops, and field trips to local businesses and colleges.

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Putting the Boats to the Test

Urban Boatbuilders commemorates its four-month apprenticeship program with youth ages 16-19 with a capstone experience that allows them to test the boats that they built out on Minnesota’s Boundary Waters.

I think that these outdoor experiences and the woodworking aspect really lends itself to social-emotional learning.

Michael Wurth

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