Faith Focus Haven™ · Youth workforce
Paid creative media work before they graduate.
Austin teens are paid to produce real creative media while building professional experience before graduation.
Projects are built from Faith Focus Haven’s original stories, scenarios and practical youth curriculum.
A proposed collaboration between Faith Focus Haven and local creative-media and youth workforce partners.
What it is
- Paid creative-media work experience for Austin-area teens.
- Teens create real videos, stories and digital content while building a portfolio.
Who it serves
- High-school students who need an earlier path to professional experience.
- Designed to include youth from underrepresented backgrounds, including youth with disabilities and neurodivergent youth.
Why it matters
- Creative careers often require a portfolio, references and real project experience.
- This gives teens a paid way to build those things before graduation.
How one cohort runs
Practice
Teens run the scenarios themselves first, in a workshop.
Produce
Writers room, camera, sound, edit, animation, marketing. Adult supervised.
Paid
Each teen invoices, and is paid per accepted piece. Invoicing is the lesson.
Published
Airs on Austin Public and online. The credit is the portfolio.
The work is the practice
Faith Focus Haven uses real-life scenarios and creative projects to help teens practice communication, teamwork, conflict management, feedback, problem-solving, time management and professional judgment before the stakes get higher.
Learn through stories. Practice through scenarios. Use the skills while creating. Build real work experience.
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Real-life stories
Tina & Tilly™
Friendship misunderstandings, belonging, assumptions and awkward moments become stories teens can discuss, create and respond to.
What they practice
- Communication, perspective-taking, confidence, asking for help, better choices
What they create
- Scripts, skits, short videos, comics
From talking about a situation to practicing what to do next.
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First-job scenarios
Workplace Foolishness™
Bosses, coworkers, mistakes, feedback, unclear expectations and conflict become realistic scenarios teens can work through before a real job is on the line.
What they practice
- Teamwork, feedback, conflict management, time management, project management, workplace judgment
What they create
- Then they use those same skills while completing creative work with other people
Learn it in the scenario. Use it on the project.
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Creative conflict
Petty Powers™
Everyday frustrations become ridiculous villains, so participants can see what happens when blame, shame or payback makes a problem worse.
What they practice
- Frustration tolerance, conflict repair, problem-solving, perspective, choices
What they create
- Skits, costumes, graphics and effects. The most creative of the three
Make the problem visible. Practice a better response.
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Real work experience
Paid Creative Roles
In funded workforce cohorts, participants can take defined creative roles with real assignments, deadlines, feedback and adult supervision. Not a class assignment.
Possible roles
- Writing, acting, storyboarding, camera, sound, editing, illustration, animation, social content
What they leave with
- Work experience, portfolio pieces, supervisor feedback, resume material, professional connections
Experience. Portfolio. Reference. Next opportunity.
Who leads what
What we report
- Teens served, sessions, completion rate
- Credited deliverables published or aired
- Dollars paid directly to youth creators
- Supervisor-verified skills and portfolio use
Funding being evaluated
- Austin Nexus$5,000 or $10,000, due October 13 2026
- Impact Austin g3Opens September 28 2026, needs a nonprofit applicant
- Travis County SYEPHost site for paid youth positions, 2027
Where the evidence sits
- Every figure dated and sourced
- The claims it does not support, listed
- See the research
What we do not claim
- That creative media is a booming sector.Graphic design is projected down 2% and editing down 1% through 2035, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- That short-term paid work causes long-term careers.The randomized evidence on summer youth employment covers near-term earnings and employment, not career placement.
- A placement rate.The material is in use with families and adults. No funded cohort has run yet.
Talk to us about the program
For partners, funders, and host organizations who want the program structure, the budget, or a working session. This is a working draft from September 2026 and the program name is not set yet.