Charlotte, N.C. – Members of Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. Alternatives to Violence Beatties Ford Road team recently returned from Buffalo, N.Y. where they visited former program participant Chance, a graduate of West Charlotte High School and current student at the University of Buffalo.
Chance said he went through some difficult times in his teenage years, but with the support of his family and YAP ATV, he was able to learn how to deal with stressful situations, remain positive and build himself up.
“(YAP ATV) helped me out a lot. It’s good people in ATV,” Chance said. “It’s straight good people and family…I appreciate everyone that is in ATV…they make sure I am straight and keep me on my toes. It’s a different type of level of support.”
YAP ATV Beatties Ford Road outreach workers Juan Hall and Larry Mims traveled to New York to support Chance in September. Chance was referred to YAP after he wasn’t doing his best in school. With the help of YAP ATV and the nonprofit’s wraparound services, he is now a wide receiver on the football team at the University of Buffalo with better time management skills.
YAP is a national nonprofit in 35 states and Washington, D.C., that partners with youth justice, child welfare, behavioral health, and public safety systems to deliver unique evidence-based youth and family wraparound services in homes, schools, and other community sites as an alternative to youth incarceration and residential care. In recent years, YAP has combined our evidence-based youth justice and child welfare model with evidence-based community violence interruption approaches to help cities curb neighborhood violence.
The YAP ATV Beatties Ford Road program started in summer 2021 and is a joint effort between the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County using the methods of Cure Violence Global including strategies associated with disease control to detect and interrupt conflicts; identify and treat the highest risk individuals and change social norms. YAP is the area’s nonprofit partner for two of its three Alternatives to Violence (ATV) programs.
View an interview between Hall, Mims and Chance here.
For more info on YAP, visit yapinc.org or follow us on X at @YAPInc.