YAP, Inc.The Neighborhood Advocate

Washington, D.C. –The National Violence Prevention and Community Safety Team of Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. met with graduate students from Donau Universität in Vienna at the Austrian Embassy in the nation’s Capitol to discuss safety, policy, advocacy and systems change.

YAP is a national nonprofit in 33 states and Washington, D.C., that partners with youth justice, child welfare, behavioral health, and other systems to provide community-based alternatives to youth incarceration and congregate residential placements. YAP also partners with public safety systems to combine the nonprofit’s unique wraparound services approach with other evidence-based models to reduce violence.

Delegates included government, private sector, non-governmental organizations, academia, and one Ukrainian citizen.

National Director of Violence Prevention Fred Fogg shared with the delegation how YAP is working to interrupt violence in cities nationally including in the Carolinas, Texas, Maryland, Illinois and New Jersey, among others.

The meeting was set up by YAP’s Director of International Development Diana Matteson with support from Charles Bentil, recruitment specialist and program coordinator for one of YAP’s violence prevention programs. The programs hire and train formerly incarcerated individuals to serve as credible messengers to support other justice-involved individuals and others who are at the highest risk for engaging in violence.

“YAP’s commitment to community safety programming and system change was well-represented by the local team and National Director Fred Fogg at the Embassy of Austria in Washington D.C., in an exchange with a delegation of government and private sectors leaders from Vienna, Austria,” Matteson said. “Academics who had studied causes of high rates of community violence in the U.S. and challenges faced by returning citizens leaving incarceration left the exchange with unique insights on how innovative programming and system change work are being done every day by YAP to address them.”

To learn more about YAP visit yapinc.org and follow the nonprofit on Twitter @YAPInc.

Charlotte, N.C. – Some moms of Mecklenburg County Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. program participants showed up for a relaxing evening  — painting,  sipping cider, and enjoying a pre-Thanksgiving meal.

Hosted by Mecklenburg County YAP’s Youth Justice program, Paint and Chill, was sponsored by LISC Charlotte, a community development organization making economic equality a reality for all Charlotteans.

YAP is a 47-year old non-profit that is located in 33 states and the District of Columbia that provides community-based services as a more effective alternative to youth incarceration and congregate residential care.  The Youth Justice program is a partnership with the court system, which refers participants to YAP. Each young person is assigned a neighborhood-based YAP Advocate who champions for them and their families, guiding them to achieve positive outcomes.

“My son was having some trouble in school and outside of school,” said Q Henderson, whose 15 year-old son is in the youth justice program. “I was directed to YAP to help him make some better decisions. He’s a lot better than when he started out. This was his first year of high school and it was a little rough for him but when he got some outside resources it kind of really help to reel him back in a little bit.”

Henderson said YAP Advocate Jahwan Edwards has taught her son a lot of things from a male perspective that she isn’t able to.

“My son knows that Jahwan focuses personally on him during their one-on-one time,” Henderson said, adding that he’s taken him to the gym, out to eat and to meet other young men his age.

YAP Program Coordinator Makita Gordon put the Paint and Chill event together to celebrate moms whose children are making progress as YAP Youth Justice Program participants.

“You forget about yourself, especially when you’re a mom, because it’s all about the kids.  I just wanted to create something that was all about the moms.,” she said.

Gordon, who interacts with the parents and guardians of the program participants at intake and follows up with them weekly to access their needs, said she chose a Paint and Chill affair because it has personally helped her relief stress in the past and she wanted to introduce the parents to something that they might not have been exposed to before.

“The moms are the ones who are in court, they are the ones who have to keep up with all these programs, deal with people visiting in-and-out of their homes, and the moms forget about their own self-care because either their child is locked up or they’re worried about them being locked up or they’re in the streets and worried about whether or not they’re going to survive,” Gordon said.

Gordon enlisted the help of Tanzania Stewart of Creative Society to help guide the moms in painting.

“Painting is a stress reliever because you put all your stress on that canvass, turn on some music and it just takes you away,” Stewart said. “You get wrapped up in your picture. The best part is that people don’t have to follow my color pattern, they can do their own thing.”

Gordon hopes to hold a Paint and Chill, for program participants next.

“Painting is like a coping mechanism in a sense because I’ve been through some things in my life,” Gordon said. “It wasn’t until I did a paint and sip that I found out what painting could do for me. I don’t know how to paint, draw or any of that, but when I went and did it, it just gave me so much confidence. It really brings assurance to feel like you accomplish something through art.”

The event took place at YAP’s Charlotte office on Beatties Ford Road.

To learn more about YAP visit yapinc.org and follow the nonprofit on Twitter @YAPInc.

Newark, NJ — Essex County, New Jersey Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. hosted a special graduation ceremony this month for 30 participants of a pilot program that supports individuals leaving prison when their sentences “max out.” The program is a partnership between YAP and the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC), which connects individuals to the program up to 180 days before their release date.

“When you max out, you return to society often after many years in prison, with no supervision, but also with no support,” said Program Director Edwin “Chino” Ortiz who oversees the pilot, working alongside his brother, Program Coordinator Carmelo “Melo” Ortiz. The Ortiz brothers maxed out of prison in 2016, each after serving 30 years. When Edwin was 19 and Carmelo was 20, they were convicted on charges related to the death of man during a robbery.

Incarcerated people often choose to max out rather than taking a chance on a parole hearing where additional time might be added to their sentences, the Ortiz brothers said. They added that 50-75 percent of people leaving prison in New Jersey are technically maxing out.

“I knew Chino and Melo from prison and worked with them before I got out,” said 51-year-old Maurice Romero. “When I got out, they brought me to the office, gave me a huge backpack with clothes, gift cards, everything I needed. They took me to the bus station to get bus cards, helped me get reduced rent for the apartment, and gave me suits for job interviews.”

Romero returned to Newark in April after serving 36 years in prison for purposeful or knowing murder and felony murder. At age 15, he accompanied two boys to a robbery that he quickly fled from when he realized it was a home invasion of an elderly couple. When police arrested him the next day, he learned that the wife was raped before being killed by one of the boys who pled guilty and remains in prison for those and additional crimes committed during his incarceration. Romero, who now has a full-time job and an apartment, and is pursuing a master’s degree in criminal justice, credits the YAP re-entry program for preparing him for his transition, transporting him from prison, assisting him with getting his ID, and helping him make the emotional adjustment that comes with living for the first time as a free man.

In addition to presenting certificates of completion to participants, the ceremony recognized local supporters. “Reverend Seth Kaper-Dale received a certificate of appreciation for his unwavering support,” said Carmelo Ortiz. “His organization – The Reform Church of Highland Park Affordable Housing Corporation – supports our program with housing opportunities for our participants. They rent apartments and sublease it to our participants at affordable rates.”

YAP staff Advocates meet program participants at the prison gates on the day of their release and transport them to emergency housing. But before that, while they are still incarcerated, they meet with their YAP Advocates to create strength-based individualized service plans. Later, YAP staff are at each program participant’s side to help with applying for ID cards, accessing food pantries, and connecting with job training, healthcare resources, employment services, educational programs and recreational activities to strengthen family bonds. Participants also take part in weekly support group sessions and benefit from mental health and substance use treatment and restorative justice and other services that provide ways to give back to their communities.

First-year funding for the program will enable YAP to serve up to 70 NJDOC referrals. However, news of the re-entry team’s work has been spreading among men and women who have been in the community for months, even years after maxing out of prison. Adhering to the 47-year-old nonprofit’s No Reject, No Eject policy, the YAP team has also been connecting these “walk-in” program participants with re-entry tools and resources and has invited those who have been successful to also take part in the graduation ceremony.

YAP is a 47-year-old national nonprofit in 33 states and the District of Columbia that partners with youth justice, child welfare, behavioral health, and other systems to provide community-based services as a more effective alternative to youth incarceration and congregate residential placements. In recent years, YAP has also been combining its evidence-based wraparound services model with violence intervention approaches to help communities curb violent crime.

Learn more about YAP at www.YAPInc.org and follow the organization on Twitter @YAPInc.

Prescott, Ariz. — Ten months ago, 15-year-old Tucker could never have imagined being where he is now – off probation with his friends, family and Prescott, Ariz. community members celebrating his achievements.

Tucker recently completed services at Yavapai County, Ariz. Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. YAP is a national nonprofit in 33 states and Washington, D.C. that partners with youth justice, child welfare, behavioral health, and other systems to deliver evidence-based services in families’ homes and communities as an alternative to placement in youth prisons and congregate residential care facilities.

“Before all this, I used to get angry really, really quickly. Since all this has happened, it doesn’t happen as often,” Tucker said.

YAP hires neighborhood-based Advocates who are trained to empower program participants to see and nurture their strengths while connecting them and their parents/guardians and families to educational, economic, and emotional tools to strengthen the youths’ foundation.

Tucker had been on probation for more than a year when he became a YAP participant.

“I met a young man with very little impulse control. Not a good sense of physical and personal boundaries and anger issues. There was also a lot of fear and insecurity with being on probation,” said Tucker’s former YAP Advocate Eric Schulze.

Yavapai County Juvenile Probation Department began referring youths to YAP in 2020 after receiving a program startup grant awarded through the Safely Home Fund, a YAP partnership with Georgetown University’s Center for Juvenile Justice Reform. YAP received an Arizona Governor’s Office of Youth, Faith and Family Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Title II Formula Grant in 2021. That funding enabled YAP to serve 10 youths through October 2022 with the Arizona Community Foundation covering costs of serving two additional program participants.

In the nine months that Tucker was in the program, Schulze spent time with him and his family in their home. He also met with Tucker at school and took him bowling, hiking, and kayaking with other program participants.

“I was getting out of the house and doing stuff. When you’re on probation you’re stuck,” Tucker said.

Schulze saw Tucker eagerly learning new skills while also taking time to motivate and build up his peers.

“It’s been encouraging to see him take on new opportunities,” Schulze said. “He has always had an amazing sense of humor and has known he operates a little different within the world. And he’s ok with being that different person and letting himself shine.”
As Tucker began focusing on his strengths, Schulze encouraged him to take advantage of tutoring and other learning resources at his school.

“This year, I’m doing the best in school than I ever have,” Tucker said. “I’m really good at math. It’s been my best subject – that and homeroom.” Tucker describes homeroom as “a family within a family,” where his classmates shared with him his excitement of being off probation.

Schulze also connected Tucker to the Prescott Valley Park Collective, a community nonprofit, where he satisfied his community service hours and stayed on through YAP Supported Work, where program participants earn income while getting on-the-job experience.

“One of the people I worked with – his name is Coach – it used to take him an hour and a half to clean the playground,” Tucker said. “With me helping him, it takes 45 minutes. It made a difference for him because he got to go home early. You get joy with helping people. I personally try to make everyone feel better.”

Earlier this year, Tucker learned that a planned promotion for his Advocate was put on hold when some anticipated program funding didn’t come through.

“I kept nagging her [Yavapai County YAP Program Director Patty Delp] to give it to him,” he said.

While embarrassed by Tucker’s campaigning, Schulze was proud to see that after months working as his YAP Advocate, the tables had turned with Tucker advocating for him.

“The magic in our model is its simplicity,” Delp said, adding that nine of the 12 youths receiving services over the past year successfully completed the program requirements and all celebrated major milestones.

“These kids are coming to us from the system, and we start our work by looking underneath the trauma that came before the acting out,” Delp said. “These are not bad kids; they’re young people who have had a tough go at it.”

Tucker’s former probation officer Dan Lammers was among those attending his YAP graduation. “We can work together to help kids that are in the system, and the system is not bad or overbearing when the right resources are used to assist in helping our kids move forward,” he said.

Tucker is completing his fall semester with good grades, work experience, a driver’s permit, and new respect and admiration from his family, friends, and community. Meantime, Schulze has been promoted from Advocate to Program Coordinator; and Delp is pursuing funding so that the program can continue serving justice-involved Yavapai County youth for years to come.

Learn more about YAP at www.YAPInc.org and follow the organization on Twitter @YAPInc.

Charlotte, N.C. – Mecklenburg County Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. hosted an Open House on Oct. 26 to welcome program participants, their families, and members of the Beatties Ford Road neighborhood.

The event allowed the community to meet members of Charlotte’s YAP staff including those from the national nonprofit’s Mecklenburg County Youth Justice program and the organization’s Violence Intervention (Alternatives to Violence or ATV) program team.

The YAP Youth Justice Program partners with the court system, where through referrals, program participants get a neighborhood-based Advocate who champions for them and their families, guiding them to achieve positive outcomes. The program is led by Director Malik Glover and Assistant Director India Harrison.

The City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, in collaboration with Cure Violence Global (CVG) and YAP launched ATV a year ago in response to reducing violence in the Beatties Ford Road corridor. ATV Site Supervisor Earl Owens and that program’s team members, all of whom are deeply rooted as volunteers and activists on the Beatties Ford Road corridor, were also in attendance.

The Charlotte team is available for support and can help connect youth, families and residents to economic, educational, and emotional tools to achieve positive goals. The afternoon included light refreshments, neighborly support, and an opportunity to view YAP’s new office location on Beatties Ford Road.

YAP is a national nonprofit in 33 states and the District of Columbia that provides community-based services as a more effective alternative to youth incarceration and congregate residential care. YAP combines its wraparound services model with other evidence-based approaches to also provide alternatives to neighborhood violence.

To learn more about YAP visit yapinc.org and follow the nonprofit on Twitter @YAPInc.

YAP Lowcountry Rising Above Violence Site Supervisor LaToya Rivers

YAP Lowcountry Rising Above Violence Team

YAP Lowcountry Rising Above Violence team; Credible Messenger Chantelle Mitchell speaking

YAP Lowcountry Rising Above Violence Interrupter Cornelius Chisolm

Saxophonist Earl White, Jr.

Just Say Grace Catering by Sylvia Evans staff members

YAP Lowcountry Rising Above Violence Interrupter Shantone Curry

YAP President Gary Ivory (Plants from Flowers by Eddie)

YAP CMO Kelly Williams with Lowcountry Rising Above Violence Site Supervisor LaToya Rivers, Credible Messenger Chantelle Mitchell and YAP President Gary Ivory

MUSC Turning the Tide Violence Intervention Program (TTVIP) Director and Trauma Surgeon Ashley Hink, M.D. with TTVIP Program Director Christa Green and TTVIP Violence Interruption Advocate Cat Yetman

Open House Day at Midland Park Ministry Center

YAP Lowcountry Rising Above Violence program participant Jaclyn

YAP Lowcountry Rising Above Violence Team

YAP Southeast Region Vice President LaVeisha Cummings

MUSC Turning the Tide Violence Intervention Program (TTVIP) Director and Trauma Surgeon Ashley Hink, M.D. and YAP Lowcountry Rising Above Violence Interruptor Shantone Curry

YAP Lowcountry Rising Above Violence Site Supervisor LaToya Rivers speaks with a guest

MUSC Turning the Tide Violence Intervention Program (TTVIP) Director and Trauma Surgeon Ashley Hink, M.D.

YAP Lowcountry Rising Above Violence Credible Messenger Chantelle Mitchell and open house guest

YAP Lowcountry Rising Above Violence Site Supervisor LaToya Rivers with MUSC Turning the Tide Violence Intervention (TTVIP) Program Director Christa Green

YAP Charleston County, S.C. – Lowcountry Rising Above Violence, Charleston’s new community violence prevention and intervention program, hosted an Open House to introduce themselves and the services they offer.

The program is staffed by employees of Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. through a partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice Prevention (OJJDP), the program is designed to help curb violence among young people ages 10-18 in Charleston and the North Charleston neighborhoods.

The program uses the Cure Violence Global model to detect and interrupt conflicts; identify and treat individuals at the highest-risk of violence engagement; and change social norms, while also delivering YAP wraparound services that empower youth and families with tools to nurture their strengths and put/keep their lives positive trajectory.

YAP is a national nonprofit in 33 states and the District of Columbia that delivers community-based services as a more effective alternative to youth incarceration and out-of-home placement. In recent years, YAP has combined its evidence-based model of hiring and training neighborhood-based staff with shared experience with other evidence-based approaches to help cities curb violence.

The YAP Charleston County team includes Site Supervisor Latoya Rivers, Credible Messenger Chantelle Mitchell and Violence Interrupters Shantone Curry and Cornelius Chisolm.

The team extends special thanks to Midland Park Ministry Center Pastor Jerry Zapata, Just Say Grace Catering by Sylvia Evans, Saxophonist Earl White, Jr., and Flowers by Eddie.

To learn more about YAP visit yapinc.org and follow the nonprofit on Twitter @YAPInc.

Patty Rosati is a no-nonsense leader who has been carrying out the mission of Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. for over three decades.

She started with YAP in Philadelphia, before serving as Regional Director of the Southwest and was then promoted to Vice President of the area. Most recently she was tapped as YAP’s Chief Impact Officer where she will lead several strategic initiatives across the national nonprofit and report directly to YAP President Gary Ivory.

“Patty will help to coordinate projects of strategic importance and she will help ensure, along with others, that YAP is a high impact organization by assuring that initiatives are done well and on time,” Ivory said. “This fits nicely into our emphasis on performance management and continuous quality improvement. I am pleased to have Patty work alongside me to advance YAP’s mission.”

YAP serves 33 states and the District of Columbia, and has a 47-year history of providing community-based alternatives to youth incarceration, out-of-home child welfare, behavioral health, and intellectual disabilities placements. The mission of YAP is to provide care for youths and their families by connecting them to economical, educational and emotional resources so that they and their communities have safe alternatives to institutional placement.

Rosati called her transition “bittersweet” and feels fortunate to be playing a bigger role in helping the agency expand and provide excellent services to YAP’s youth and families. Rosati’s new duties will move her away from her team where she oversaw youth justice, child welfare and workforce programs in Nevada, Arizona, California, Kansas, Colorado and Utah.

YAP Yavapai County, Arizona Program Director Patty Delp said Rosati was the best leader and mentor she’s ever worked with in her career.

“It has been such a pleasure working with Patty Rosati. She brings her experience, intelligence and encouragement to our youth and families with every encounter,” Delp said. “Hands down, I have no doubt that with Patty’s support we will build sustainability and be here to do this important work for the long haul. Thank you, Patty, and best wishes in your new leadership role.”

YAP Southwest Regional Director Nyeri Richards agrees with Delp, adding that Rosati “leads with ethics and morals; above all, always displaying compassion and provides sound guidance from an impartial lens.”

“When you see someone with such a commitment to the mission, agency, and her team receive her flowers, you can’t help but be emotional,” Richards said. “I am proud to have served under her and to call her my mentor.”

In addition to her dedication of YAP’s mission, Ivory said Rosati rose to leadership roles because of her amazing skills and tireless work ethic.

“Patty knows YAP’s model well and has been relied upon to train other leaders across the organization,” he added. “She will continue to work with leadership nationally.”

Learn more about YAP at www.YAPInc.org and follow the organization on Twitter @YAPInc.

Utah – Helping a program participant get a conspicuous tattoo covered up and assisting another youth with getting a mole removed from his face – are just some of the ways Utah’s Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. credible messengers go above and beyond to help program participants.

The Utah YAP Credible Messenger program connects youth justice system-involved young people with credible messengers, also known as Advocates, who are trained to help program participants see and nurture their strengths. The credible messengers provide individualized services to the youth and their parents/guardians, connecting them to economic, emotional, and educational tools to help them thrive. Utah’s program spans across four counties — Weber, Salt Lake, Davis, and Utah County.

YAP is a national nonprofit in more than 100 communities in 33 states and the District of Columbia that provides community-based services as an alternative to youth incarceration, congregate out-of-home placement and treatment. YAP also partners with public safety systems to combine the nonprofit’s unique wraparound services approach with other evidence-based models to reduce violence. Utah’s Credible Messenger program is a partnership with the Division of Juvenile Justice and Youth Services, which refers youth to YAP for community-based services.

“We have a great relationship with our referring authority,” said Director Nathan Badell. “They are totally committed to helping the youth of Utah reclaim their lives and put their past behind them and move on.”

The program has five full-time and five part-time staff members, most of whom are from the neighborhoods where the YAP participants live.

“The people we have working here are committed to youth,” Badell said.  “It’s not your typical credible messenger program,” he added, explaining that the staff’s credibility comes from their shared lived experience with program participants for whom they provide wraparound advocate services.

“Utah’s DJJS has some of the most progressive and passionate staff I have had the pleasure of working with in my 33 years here at YAP,” said YAP’s Chief Impact Officer Patty Rosati who oversees Utah. “They truly get it, and they know their kids deserve ‘a seat at the table.’ I am so impressed by Brett Peterson (Director of Utah DJJS) and his entire leadership team.  They know all their youth by name and situation.

YAP Advocates or credible messengers are invested and go out of their way to help the youth and their families, says Office of Community Programs Director Rachel Edwards of DJJS.

“For example, Nathan Badell went and purchased a graduation dress for a youth who earned her diploma and was able to attend the graduation ceremony as well. It has been a great partnership.”

Jill McKinlay, program director of DJJS’ Office of Correctional Facilities said they have been impressed with the credible messengers and their relationship and rapport with the youths.

“One specific example of this is during our Youth Parole Authority Hearings, credible messengers are oftentimes there to support and advocate for our youth,” McKinlay said. “This can be a stressful time for these youth and the presence and support of their credible messenger is really noticed and appreciated. It’s one more person in their corner cheering them on.”

Advocating for Youth and Families

 Badell was born in Chicago and grew up in Delaware. He attended college in Utah, and returned to Delaware for 25 years before moving back to Utah. Before joining YAP, most of Badell’s experience was working with foster youth, former foster youth, and young people in traditional and independent living.

“One of the most frustrating things for me personally was we would take care of these children and help build their resilience and my biggest issue was the youth made progress, but the families hadn’t,” he said. “The kids were removed from these unsafe conditions then they were returned to the same dysfunctional families they were removed from.”

That is the main reason, Badell said, that he enjoys working with YAP because it not only helps youth, it also helps their families; that the organization’s mission aligns with his personal beliefs.

“I always felt like we could do more to help the families. Why can’t we invest in the family? It’s a lot cheaper to do that than it is to do foster care,” Badell added. “The government never does a good job at raising kids or families. That always bothered me.”

The Delaware native said he can’t believe it took him so long to find YAP.

“For a lot of these kids their families are hardworking blue collar families and the youth either made a mistake or got involved in gangs or hustling both to support their families and to buy stuff,” Badell said. “I really enjoy what I’m doing, and I get to help several communities in Utah.”

Now that he’s got a year under his belt, Badell credits Rosati and Regional Director David Glenn, for being supportive and helping to coach him through his first 12 months matriculation at YAP.

Glenn said when youth leave secured facilities they often go back to homes and communities where they previously failed, adding, “Utah and YAP understand that relationships and planning need to start before release and continue through the community reintegration process. That’s what makes this partnership so amazing. We can help youth rejoin the community and thrive.”

Badell agrees.

“Helping families ultimately helps communities,” he said. “I am thrilled to be a part of this organization. I am fully committed to being a Yapper for life.”

Learn more about YAP at www.YAPInc.org and follow the organization on Twitter @YAPInc.