Abel Mims, Assistant Director for Youth Advocate Programs (YAP®), Inc.’s New Jersey Community-based Violence Prevention Program, also known as YAP® Pursuing Excellence, will serve as a panelist at the Nov. 6, 2025 50th Anniversary YAP® Making Change Happen Summit in Philadelphia, Pa.
Originally from Colorado, Abel Mims joined Youth Advocate Programs (YAP®), Inc. in 2023 and now serves as Assistant Director for the national nonprofit’s New Jersey Community-based Violence Prevention Program. Launched three years ago in five counties in the state, the nonprofit is scaling the community safety model, expanding it across the nation as YAP® Pursuing Excellence, a name that came from a group of New Jersey program youth.
Mims has a passion for helping youth and providing wraparound services to them and their families. His specialty is working with program participants and parents/guardians whose primary language is Spanish. Mims has a background in languages and taught as an oral English teacher in China for 5 years. In his free time, he enjoys the great outdoors, exploring different cultures, and exercising.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, YAP® is a national nonprofit in 32 states and the District of Columbia that partners with youth justice, child welfare, behavioral health, and public safety systems to provide community-based services as an alternative to youth incarceration, congregate residential placements, and neighborhood violence. With YAP Pursuing Excellence®, the nonprofit combines its unique evidence-based wraparound services model with specialized cognitive behavioral therapy and other services to reduce violence among young people identified as being at the greatest risk. The program was informed by Choose to Change®, a partnership with YAP® and Chicago-based Brightpoint.
In New Jersey, YAP® hires Credible Messengers, Advocates with shared experience — some of whom were formerly incarcerated – to provide the New Jersey program participants with ten hours a week of individual and family wraparound support. Participants attend weekly group Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress (SPARCS) sessions designed to address exposure to violence and other traumatic experiences. Participants also take part in YAP®-paid Supported Work jobs where community-based employers provide training, coaching, and work experience. Participants also take part in group activities that emphasize healing, learning through a collective group process, addressing accountability, repairing harm, and community healing.
Learn more about the nonprofit’s 50th anniversary events and register at yapinc.org/50th.
