A paid mentorship program where teens build woodworking, workplace, and life skills through hands-on learning. Real skills. Real responsibility. Real readiness for the future.
Guided by the Grain is Deeply Ingrained's paid youth mentorship and workforce readiness program. Designed for young people ages 16–18, it combines hands-on woodworking, mentoring, workplace skill-building, and paid work experiences.
Participants learn to operate professional tools, manage projects from concept to completion, and develop the work ethic, communication skills, and character needed to succeed—in the trades or in any career path they choose.
This isn't a class. It's an experience designed to prepare young people for what comes next.
Guided by the Grain combines hands-on learning, mentoring, workplace preparation, and paid experience. Participants move among these areas based on their skills, readiness, and current opportunities.
Deeply Ingrained uses the Five Cs of Positive Youth Development—Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character, and Caring—to help young people build strengths that extend beyond the woodshop.
If you're a young person aged 16–18 living on the east side of Indianapolis who's ready to build something real, we want to hear from you.