A new collaboration between ten organizations called "Youth Wins" is looking to develop a strong young adult workforce on Staten Island.

It's a program that will help people like Justin Lopez.

"What I got out of today was that there's a lot of foundations here to help provide for me and help me get into college and have work," student Justin Lopez said.

"Youth Wins" is hoping to combat a statistic it says is staggering.  JOBSFIRSTNYC says one in five Staten Islanders between the ages of 18 and 24 is out of work and out of school.

"It is particularly endemic in the North Shore of Staten Island where 24 percent of young adults are out of work and out of school, " said Marjorie Parker of JOBSFIRSTNYC.  "That has long term economic impact on the communities where many of these young adults also have children."

The initiative is hoping to take advantage of the economic opportunities coming to the Island.

"There are great things happening here in terms of North Shore development: the NY Wheel, the Outlets, the Hotel," said Betsy Dubovsky of The Staten Island Foundation.

The new program plans to train young adults with the skills needed to fill close to 20,000 new jobs with the help of a new resource.

"Youth Wins" hopes the College of Staten Island's Technology Incubator will provide internships and mentoring to Young Adults in it's programs.

"Now is the right time to begin training folks for those jobs that are coming on the island. And we are working...the partnership "Youth Wins"...is working with the employers who are going to be coming on Staten Island," Parker said.

"It makes me feel good that there's a lot of people out here who are doing for us and making sure we're not being left behind," Lopez said.