About Us
Welcome to the Empowerment Gift Shop
The Shenango Valley Urban League Empowerment Gift Shop launched in September 2025 at the Shenango Valley Urban League. It provides workforce development opportunities for homeless and low-income individuals ages 18-24 to gain experience in various areas from customer service, e-commerce, technology, balloon service, and apparel making.
It started with snack boxes with the TECH Program!
TECH Program
Teaching E-commerce & Computers to the Homeless
The purpose of the TECH Program is to provide workforce development and training to individuals who are homeless as defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Category 1: Literally Homeless
Category 2: Imminent Risk of Homelessness
Category 3: Homeless under other Federal statutes
Category 4: Fleeing/Attempting to Flee DV
The TECH Program is a social enterprise workforce development program focusing on training homeless individuals in the area of e-commerce and teaching computer skills. The program will increase employability and prepare participants for higher wage technology careers.
Participants in the program will operate a subscription snack box service that is completely online for on-the-job training in the e-commerce space. They will learn to source the products, package, and ship orders received via the online order system. After up to 500 hours in the program participants graduate with transferrable technology skills that can be used in other places of employment.