YAP, Inc.The Neighborhood Advocate

Four years free after returning home from Federal prison, 30-year-old Nokomis Hunter is on a path that has never looked brighter. He has a career with District of Columbia Government, a young family and now, Poetry of a Caged Bird, his recently published collection of poems.

The book chronicles the ten years Hunter spent behind bars beginning at age 16 after a carjacking left him with an adult armed robbery conviction.

Hunter recalls how hard it was adjusting to being a free man for the first time in his life. Having been in prison when he came of age, he had to get a driver’s license and insurance before he had a clue about how to apply for a job. After spending a few months in a Delaware halfway house, Hunter returned to his mother’s home in Washington, DC, a city he barely recognized from his childhood. Because the Federal prison system moved him to  institutions in a number of states, his mother was unable to visit. So he had to get to know her all over again, this time, as a grown man trying not to be a burden and doing his best to make a contribution.

“I went from part-time job to part-time job, but because of my record I couldn’t find anything sustainable,” he said. “I even tried to get a loan to start a catering business, but my record kept me from that too,” he said. “It was really discouraging.”

A year ago, just when he had almost given up, Hunter became one of the first formerly incarcerated adults served by Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc., which traditionally provides services to young people as an alternative to youth incarceration and other institutionalization. YAP had recently become a partner in a program that helps Washington, D.C. men transition from prison to freedom.

By participating in the program, Hunter said his record was sealed, since the offense occurred before he was an adult; and he was able to be released early from his probation.  In an interview about the program with Good Morning Washington, Hunter talked about how it changed his life.

Adapting its time-tested youth justice model of training Advocates to provide intensive mentoring and family advocacy, YAP worked with Hunter and his mother. After learning that she wanted to lean on challenges of her past to help others, YAP hired her to be an Advocate to work with systems-involved girls.

At a recent YAP recognition banquet, Hunter surprised his mother with a special tribute and a public thank you for sticking by him throughout his journey.

Hunter said of everything YAP did for him, the most meaningful was helping his mother find her purpose, which has strengthened his family’s foundation for years to come.

No reject; no eject. That’s a mantra at Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc., a national nonprofit that provides community-based alternatives for young people who might otherwise be placed in youth detention or behavioral health/drug treatment, developmental disabilities or child-welfare facilities.

“YAP’s goal is to turn setbacks into steppingstones while keeping young people safely home with their families and helping them become contributing members of their communities” said Adams County, Pa. YAP Program Director Robert Witt.

As an example, he points to 18-year-old Erin Barnhart, an aspiring model who participated in the Adams County YAP Behavioral Health program a couple of years ago.

“During that time, I had many ups and downs, but YAP was always there for me,” Barnhart said. “In February 2018, I had a setback and was admitted to a treatment center. When I was released, my mobile therapist Kayla Sollenberger was waiting for me when I got home.”

YAP mobile therapists meet with young people in their homes and other settings in their communities where they are most comfortable receiving services. Adhering to the YAP wraparound model, these therapists serve as mentor advocates, providing individualized service plans that help young people identify and realize their strengths. As advocates, they also connect the young people and their parents to tools and resources that firm their foundation and empower them to achieve their goals.

“With love and encouragement from my YAP staff and family, I began to communicate effectively with others and utilize my coping skills,” Barnhart said. “Youth Advocate Programs truly gave me the tools to be successful and confident.”

One of Barnhart’s goals is to be a plus-size model. She is a two-time recipient of the YAP Tom Jeffers Endowment Fund for Continuing Education Scholarship. The $1,000 award is one of the tools the nonprofit makes available to individuals served by the organization and their family members to help them achieve their education and career goals.

With her first YAP scholarship, Barnhart participated in the 2016 Barbizon Passport to Discovery Cruise, where she received more than 10 hours of training and had an opportunity to audition for international agents.

“During that week, I was in Michaela Paige’s Be You video and participated in the Miss Top Plus Model Awards ceremony,” she said. “I auditioned for Laura Gentry, an international scout, and I received top scores for my runway walk, commercial, and marketability. She awarded me the highest scholarship for Passport to Discovery and the opportunity to perform in additional competitions.”

Miss Top Plus Model Magazine named Barnhart Miss Top Plus Model East Coast and featured her in the publication.

Barnhart’s second Tom Jeffers scholarship is helping her pay for specialized trainings, including one offered by Hollywood casting director Paul Weber. She has her eye set on modeling for Torrid, her favorite plus size clothing designer for girls and women.

“Youth Advocate Programs has supported me for  many years.  Everyone at YAP has always believed in me,” Barnhart said. “Without YAP and my family, I would not have had the confidence to achieve my goals.”

MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NJ — Brian, 13, and Esteban, 14, stood proudly before community leaders and family members as they unveiled a mural decorating a wall at the New Brunswick, NJ Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. office.  The unveiling was part of a holiday gathering that gave the boys a unique perspective on how their strengths and talents can be a special gift to others.

“They described how the mural depicts the phoenix facing the future with optimism and the feathers entangled represent different paths in their lives and how they might intertwine,” said YAP Middlesex County Program Director Rebecca Escobar, who also serves on the New Brunswick City Council. “It reminds the youth that no matter what circumstances they faced, there’s always a lesson, making it possible to overcome obstacles.”

Brian and Esteban participate in YAP’s Diversion program where schools, police officers and/or parents refer young people who are beginning to exhibit behaviors that put them at risk for coming into conflict with the law. “They might be smoking marijuana or fighting, being disrespectful to teachers or running away from home,” Escobar said.

With the help of local artist Bob Ahrens, Brian and Esteban joined other YAP participants to create the mural as part of their Diversion program community service. Among those attending the holiday mural unveiling gathering were young people who had completed the YAP program in previous years. Escobar said it’s not unusual, especially around the holidays, for former program participants to come around to ask how they can give back.

The Diversion program is based on a model YAP developed 44 years ago to give youth justice, child welfare, social services and other systems community-based alternatives to incarceration and out-of-home placement. It’s a unique wraparound model where neighborhood-based Advocate mentors empower young people to identify and realize their individual gifts as they give parents and guardians tools to reinforce the family foundation.

Using the YAP Advocate model, YAP provides youth in the Diversion Program with facilitator Advocates who guide the young people through group sessions, individual mentoring and community service projects that enhance their individual interests and talents. At the same time, YAP Advocates support the youths’ families.

“In the right situation everyone can improve,” Brian said.

Throughout the holiday season, Middlesex County, YAP Diversion Program youth participated in holiday-focused service projects, including Thanksgiving turkey distributions to 250 community members, including 40 YAP program participating families. In addition, YAP’s New Brunswick School-based Youth Services Program provided gifts for 43 families it adopted from New Brunswick High School, Lord Stirling Community School and McKinley Elementary School, where 27 students received new coats.

“This is the season to give back,” Escobar said. “As they give back, the youth reflect on what YAP means to them and how we are a safe space for them; a place where they don’t feel judged and where they express how hopeful they feel towards changing themselves and achieving more for a brighter future.”

As Escobar spoke to TheNeighborhoodAdvocate.org, she received news from the from Rutgers Community Health Foundation that the program will receive funding again in 2020.