The Official Web Site of the State of South Carolina

Youth Empowerment Sites (YES)

YES students talkingYouth Empowerment Sites (YES) are an employability training program of the Department of Juvenile Justice designed for at-risk high school students. YES’s are designed to improve the overall functioning of at-risk high school students at home, in school, and in the community. The program provides job skills training, career exposure and community internship/work experience for participants from 16 sites located throughout South Carolina.

YES programs are a supplement to DJJ’s Teen After-School Centers (TASC), which are also operated statewide.  Annually, each YES site provides up to 60 high school students, ages 16-19, with comprehensive job readiness skills training, career exposure, and paid community internships at local businesses for a “real life” work experience. The goals and objectives of YES are to:

  • Increase the employability of at-risk high school students;
  • Improve school attendance, academic performance, decrease school dropout rates, and increase the likelihood of high school completion and enrollment in secondary education, or the military;
  • Reduce the recidivism rate for students served by the program that are involved with DJJ by preventing further delinquency and/or violence.

sunset over DJJThe Youth Empowerment Sites are aligned with the sixteen (16) judicial circuits.

South Carolina‘s 46 counties are divided into 16 Judicial Circuits:

  • First Circuit – Calhoun, Orangeburg, Dorchester
  • Second Circuit – Aiken, Barnwell, Bamberg
  • Third Circuit –  Lee, Sumter, Clarendon, Williamsburg
  • Fourth Circuit – Dill, Chesterfield, Darlington, Marlboro
  • Fifth Circuit – Kershaw, Richland
  • Sixth Circuit – Chester, Fairfield, Lancaster,
  • Seventh Circuit – Cherokee, Spartanburg
  • Eighth Circuit – Abbeville, Newberry, Laurens, Greenwood
  • Ninth Circuit – Berkeley, Charleston
  • Tenth Circuit – Oconee, Anderson
  • Eleventh Circuit – McCormick, Edgefield, Lexington, Saluda
  • Twelfth Circuit – Florence, Marion
  • Thirteenth Circuit – Pickens, Greenville
  • Fourteenth Circuit – Allendale, Colleton, Hampton, Beaufort, Jasper
  • Fifteenth Circuit – Georgetown, Horry
  • Sixteenth Circuit – York, Union