Washington, D.C. – Youth Advocate Programs (YAP®), Inc. hosted YAP® Global Youth Voices Storytelling Salon on Nov. 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C. in celebration of the organization’s golden anniversary. The event brought together International and national leaders and community members; in addition to highlighting YAP®’s Global Art Exchange that included artwork and images by youth who have been serviced by the nonprofit.
This first ever Storytelling Salon was a joint effort between YAP® International, YAP®’s Philanthropy Department, and Sierra Leone Youth Advocate Program Executive Director Ajara Marie Bomah, said YAP® Vice President of International Development Diana Matteson.
“It was a wonderful opportunity to tell the YAP story spanning 50 years of making change happen,” Matteson said. “The global YAP story was shared with old and new YAP friends in the D.C. community with international delegates representing seven countries giving first hand accounts of impact and global collaboration.”
YAP® partners with organizations using the YAPWRAP® model in Australia – Life Without Barriers, Guatemala – Siembra Bien, YAP Programmes Ireland and Sierra Leone Youth Advocate Program SLYAP, helping to lay the groundwork for expanding the global reach of the organization.
“On behalf of the philanthropy team, I would like to recognize the collaboration of our partners, colleagues, and donors alike, for making this pilot event so successful,” said YAP® Major Gifts Officer Alexis Stone. “When passionate partners and generous donors unite, remarkable things happen.”
In addition to Bomah, YAP Programmes Ireland CEO Siobhán O’Dwyer, Siembra Bien Executive Director Gabriela Altman, along with YAP® International 2025 fellows Abdul Rahman Bangura and Ganda Bassie from Sierra Leone, Thomas Tamba Bundoo from Liberia, and Lillian Selmartin from Papua New Guinea were also in attendance. The 2025 fellows spent three months working with local YAP® youth justice programs in Texas and Illinois.
Founded in 1975, Youth Advocate Programs (YAP®), Inc. is the leading nonprofit provider of services that reduce the nation’s over reliance on youth incarceration, residential care, and group home foster placements. YAP® partners with public systems to provide neighborhood-based wraparound and behavioral health services as an alternative to placing young people in trouble or crisis is residential care and corrections facilities. YAP® also incorporates its time-tested model in its approach to deliver community violence intervention services.
YAP® also hosted its Making Change Happen Summit and Gala on Nov. 6 in Philadelphia and YAP® Making Change Happen 5K and Food Truck Brunch in Harrisburg, Pa. on Nov. 8. For more information on YAP, visit yapinc.org.
