Volunteer Spotlight: Alumna Raigon Wilson

We have to brag on our incredible YELLS alumna, Raigon Wilson. She has been pouring into our Mentoring Program Bigs during this time of social distancing and making sure they develop the same skills she learned when she was a Big.  As a Big, Raigon committed herself to shaping the life of her elementary school “Little,” and she has continued to mentor Analleli even after graduating.

Raigon is a natural servant leader, actively seeking ways to develop her own skills in order to give back to others.  Wherever there is an opportunity for deep-reaching, authentic service, Raigon is sure to be found.  Raigon uncovered her passion for promoting food security, health, and nutrition at an early age while working in our YELLS Community Garden.  During her time as a Big, Raigon developed a toolkit of community leadership and project management skills as she launched community initiatives, managed our community garden, coordinated a health fair, and led cooking and health workshops for youth.  This would later fuel her future studies and career focused on helping communities achieve equitable health outcomes. 

Raigon has stayed busy since her time in YELLS, gaining a scholarship and earning a degree from Howard University in Nutritional Sciences and receiving a Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals fellowship.  With her amazing heart and skillset that has only grown through all of her studies and experiences since graduating YELLS, we were so thrilled to have her rejoin us as a volunteer to invest in the next generation of Bigs. Listen to Raigon share how her time in YELLS shaped her as a leader:

After her fellowship in Germany was cut short due to COVID-19, Raigon reached out, looking for a way to give back and put her skills to use. Given the state of our nation, she was particularly interested in supporting our initiatives around equity and justice.  Raigon has helped our youth process their feelings around racial injustice and led a Social Action Project Planning Workshop to help equip our youth with the skills to take action. 

Our Bigs will be leading a “Dialogue Project” to share their perspectives and elevate voices to inspire awareness and spark change. They are in the process of producing a series of interviews and conversations that explore our country’s social unrest on a more personal level. Bigs hope to keep the dialogue going and encourage people to have tough conversations that help all individuals deal with and address inequities.  Raigon drew from the skills she learned as a Big and all she’s learned since to design a virtual workshop that would help Bigs work through their project planning process and consider all the steps for success.  Thanks to Raigon, they’ve set SMART Goals and have a solid plan to take their project from idea to implementation! Hear from Raigon why this project matters to her and why she’s chosen to continue to invest in YELLS as she grows in her career:

Youth Spotlight: Justin Virgle

Justin has been a part of the Community Action Café program for his entire high school career. He is a May 2020 graduate, and the YELLS staff could not be more proud of all that he has accomplished. We’ve been blessed to watch Justin grow in so many ways. Hear from Justin how the YELLS Community Action Café has impacted his life:

Justin came to us in his Freshman year, very shy and unsure of himself.  Slowly, he began to find his voice and prosper as he experienced real leadership and felt pride as he led community events.  He used to be nervous when talking in front of guests or even his peers. If you ask him now, he attributes much of his confidence and networking skills to pep talks from YELLS staff and professionalism workshops during YELLS programming. By his Junior year, he was the first one to volunteer to speak on stage or welcome a guest. Rather than hiding in the background, he started stepping forward to network with community members, and he eventually became our teen CEO. 

Justin “knocking out” his goals and celebrating his achievements!

Justin struggled with school and had to work for his grades.  The confidence and purpose he gained in his service work in the YELLS CAC transferred to his school work – and he refused to give up when he struggled. Even when he wanted to quit, he thrived on the encouragement of his peers and staff, and persevered, taking advantage of every moment with our tutors.   

When you know you have purpose and you know you’re making a difference in your community, you fight harder for your own goals because you believe you can achieve them.  Justin graduated this past school year with all A’s and B’s! We are so proud of him and excited for his future.

Justin, your whole YELLS Family is proud of you, and we know you’ll continue to accomplish amazing things!

Learning, Leading, & Serving – Virtually

This has certainly been a year of many challenges, but it has also reaffirmed the strength of our YELLS Family and the power of community.  We stand in awe of our team who continue to innovate and find new ways to meet the increased and changing needs of our families with grace and creativity.  YELLS staff has organized activity supply drop-offs, delivery of donated books, and parent support and family success check-in calls to provide parents with tools and coping strategies throughout the pandemic.  We’ve also raised funds to provide rent assistance for families and are offering support and referrals to meet other immediate needs (technology, groceries, utilities, mental health, etc.).

Currently, all of our programming is digital to ensure the safety of youth and staff.  Our team is expertly navigating virtual programming, providing engaging workshops, emotional support and wellness, and individualized tutoring daily. They are ensuring our students are successful in digital learning and pouring in love, coupled with tools to help youth and their parents through this challenging time. Check out some of the creative ways each of our programs is working to reach, uplift, and empower youth during this time.

YELLS Mentoring Program

Bigs and Littles are learning new ways to stay connected and build their relationships during this time.  Our amazing Mentoring Coordinator, Brittany, has been super-creative and found safe ways for our youth to connect.  Just like they would in school, Bigs get to eat lunch with each other through “Zoom’fe” sessions to just talk about whatever is on their mind.  To engage Bigs and Littles, we’ve led both a virtual and a socially-distanced, outdoor virtual Paint & Connect event where youth received all the supplies and an expert instructor to lead them in painting beautiful art.

Our Bigs are also inspired to raise their voices in the ongoing struggle for racial justice and equity.  They are in the process of producing a series of interviews and conversations that explore our country’s social unrest on a more personal level and share different perspectives. Our Bigs are hoping to keep the dialogue open and move people to understanding and change.  One of our YELLS alumna and former Bigs, Raigon Wilson, is helping Bigs develop the skills and tools to plan their project effectively.  Hear from Raigon what it means to her to give back and help our Bigs with this project:

YELLS Afterschool Program

The YELLS Afterschool Program has been busy!  Our youth have explored the world on virtual fieldtrips, welcomed special guests like the only female Fire Marshall in New York City, created PSAs, and discovered how they can impact their community starting at home.  Youth are also learning to nurture a growth mindset by turning negative thoughts into “I can” statements.  It’s amazing to see our youth show up on Zoom with excitement each day.  Even for academic support, they are enthusiastic and appreciative to receive one-on-one help from our staff and interns.  Academic enrichment power sessions are tailored to the individual needs of students and pull from a resource bank of interactive activities designed by our Scholar Success Specialist. Through all this work and growth, our youth (and our team, too!) have lots of FUN!  Check out some of K-5th grade youth in action:

YELLS Community Action Café

Our YELLS Community Action Café teens have always prospered from the support system they find in each other, but this has been especially important during this time.  Their strong sense of family has helped them navigate the isolation, fear, frustration and hurt with both the pandemic and heightened reminders of racial injustice. Youth receive daily motivation and are learning coping and mindfulness practices.  Our youth are developing resiliency and a growth mindset as they draw from the strength of each other.  Staff are helping YELLS teens work through their own emotions and find ways they can be a part of the national conversation around racial justice.

Mo Adams from Atlanta United shared how he’s developing his personal brand & how he’s leveraging his platform to address issues of equity and justice.

Café teens are also exploring new models for virtually building community and uplifting their neighbors in the time of social distancing – which is more important now than ever.  They are in the process of interviewing for their “Apprenticeship Team” roles and strategizing how they can work as a team to convert the daily coffee they served in their Café to “virtual coffee cups” of love and empowerment.  In December, they are looking forward to leading an “Uplift-A-Thon” phone bank to call community members and spread joy through gratitude.     

Throughout the pandemic, staff have explicitly modeled mindfulness practices and taught youth about how the brain works. Youth learn that the brain is a tool and we can train it to work to our advantage.  By exploring healthy and unhealthy self-talk and understanding how the brain processes and remembers what it hears repeated, youth can take control of their thoughts. Our youth are more aware of their thinking and use tools like affirmations to choose their thoughts intentionally.  Positive self-talk is an incredibly powerful resource for youth to navigate our current times and provide the foundation for emotional wellness.

Partner Spotlight: FRCA & Food Security for America

The Franklin Gateway community takes care of its neighbors!  During this time, we were especially concerned that our families have the resources they need, and we sought out a way to bring food resources to Franklin Gateway.  We’ve been blessed to forge a new partnership between Food Security for America and our Franklin Road Community Association (FRCA) to provide two weeks’ worth of groceries to families every other week. The mission of Food Security for America aligns with ours, and is rooted in community ownership – local residents power the program by volunteering to unload, sort, and distribute the food safely at each biweekly drive thru event. Our FRCA is made of true community champions who brought this new program to life.  They have been committed to making sure Franklin Gateway families are fed during this challenging time, and have troubleshot and overcome hurdles to make it happen!

It’s been amazing to see the outpouring of resources Food Security for America brings to our community during each biweekly event.  Each family receives an abundance of food, with overflowing baskets and boxes of meat, fruit, veggies, milk, dry goods, feminine products, and so much more!  And our FRCA volunteers quickly get to work sorting and sharing it. They’ve weathered downpours, but always found a way to make sure families received food.  We began this new program in our YELLS parking lot through socially-distanced drive-thru events, but have more recently connected the team to our partners down the street at Christ Harvesters Global Outreach Church, who host our YELLS Mentoring Program.  This new location ensures Franklin Gateway community members can still benefit, but offers a new, indoor location large enough to allow social distancing while protecting from the rain.  Families have already received more than 12,168 pounds of food and are so appreciative for this extra support.  Thankfully, we have a caring community that rallies together and supports each other through the obstacles we face!

Our Shared Impact 2019-2020

Check out our 2019-2020 Impact Report and get inspired by the ways that together we have made a measurable difference for Franklin Gateway youth and their families.  Our work is collaborative and our results draw on the youth + parents + neighbors + staff + partners + advocates + donors who believe in what we do and continuously pour into our Franklin Gateway community.  The YELLS Family is truly powerful, as demonstrated by the many people who came together over this last year to uplift our work:

We’re proud to share the amazing achievements from the 2019-2020 school year, made possible by the hard work and dedication of so many.  We hope you’ll read the full report, but here are just a few highlights to celebrate from the 2019-2020 school year:

  • 100% of YELLS seniors graduated high school this year!
    • 95% of YELLS youth were promoted to the next grade level
  • 88% of youth reported high levels of self-efficacy
  • 93% of YELLS teens agreed they had made a positive impact in their community
  • 88% of parents reported that YELLS is helping their child show more care and kindness
  • 96% of parents felt more connected to their community

Summative Evaluation

We are able to capture this incredible impact through a partnership with Kennesaw State University’s A.L. Burruss Institute for Public Policy and Research. Thanks to our Marietta YELLS 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, we’ve been able to work with an evaluation team to both capture our successes and help us identify areas for growth.

While the above data captures the impact of all three of our programs, our 2019-2020 Summative Evaluation provides even more in-depth analysis of our two daily programs that are a part of our 21st Century Community Learning Center program. We’re proud to share that we achieved 6 out of 7 grant objectives! These objectives area centered around three core goals:

  1. Improved academic achievement for youth,
  2. Youth develop the soft skills and positive mindset to thrive in school and career, and
  3. Increased parent engagement in their child’s education

Together, we’re truly creating a community center of learning, leading, and serving that puts our Franklin Gateway youth at a competitive edge in school, in the community, and in life.

YELLS Fall 2020 Virtual Programs

This fall, we’re here for you and your family. YELLS is offering Virtual Programs designed to support and empower Franklin Gateway families and help youth rise as community leaders. YELLS is working in close partnership with Marietta City Schools to ensure your child thrives in virtual learning and has the help needed to continue learning and growing.

Here’s how to register:

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STEP ONE: Complete the YELLS Registration Form at https://forms.gle/ucQSW2takPH5nxQg6

STEP TWO: YELLS staff will email you a packet of forms to review, sign, and submit through DocuSign

STEP THREE: Email the following required documents to YELLS at register@YELLSinc.org:

  • Proof of Franklin Gateway residency (recent bill or page of current lease with name and address)
  • Proof of all household income for persons over the age of 18 (2 current and consecutive months of check stubs, signed letter from employer on company letterhead, TANF records, food stamps letter with amount, and/or free and reduced lunch verification)
  • Copies of child’s photo ID, as well as photo IDs for ALL household members
  • Copies of Social Security card for child and ALL household members

Check out Our Virtual Programs:

YELLS will offer our three programs in a virtual format. Our YELLS Team has been working hard to develop unique activities and curriculum to keep youth engaged.

We’re Here to Help!

Let us know how we can help your family! Please contact us with any questions:

Registration Questions: register@YELLSinc.org

Afterschool Program Coordinator: afterschool@YELLSinc.org

Community Action Cafe Teen Program Coordinator: cafe@YELLSinc.org

Mentoring Program Coordinator: mentoring@YELLSinc.org

Phone: 770-367-1982

Funder Spotlight: Tina & Paul Blackney

We are so grateful for the heart and generosity of the Blackney Family.  Tina and Paul Blackney heard the call to support our vital work, and they answered it!  They were one of the first Community Champion Sponsors of our “Be A Voice for Marietta Youth” campaign.  Their contribution helped fill the gap to replace pivotal funding after Cobb County Commissioners voted to no longer offer the Cobb County Non-Profit grant, from which YELLS had previously received up to $65,000 annually.

Mr. and Mrs. Blackney heard about YELLS through one of our greatest champions and Board Members, George O’Donnell.  George worked with Mr. Blackney, the former President and CEO for Worldspan, and has always considered him a role model and mentor.  Mr. Blackney shared that “George is a big proponent for YELLS and a good friend” and he was moved to help meet this need. 

The Blackney Family truly believes in investing in youth and community.  Mr. and Mrs. Blackney shared how much they appreciate that someone is paying attention to the children of our community and giving them a place to gain skills and be involved in positive change.  They feel that YELLS impacts everyone, whether they live on Franklin Gateway, in Marietta, metro-Atlanta, or beyond.  Mrs. Blackney aptly described the impact of our shared work and why it matters for everyone to invest in youth:

“What you’re doing at YELLS not only affects their lives and the community they live in, but affects all of us.  [YELLS youth] will bring the skills they gain wherever they end up – they will become a part of all of our communities.” 

We’re grateful as well to Mr. Blackney for helping our youth build these skills.  Our YELLS Community Action Café teens and Mentoring Program “Bigs” were lucky to meet Mr. Blackney and learn from his experience as an executive when he volunteered at our 10th Anniversary YELLS Networking Dinner.  It’s so powerful for our high school youth to have the opportunity to network and build relationships with experienced business leaders. 

It takes a community coming together to make our work possible.  We are blessed to have supporters like Mr. and Mrs. Blackney who believe in our work and invest in our youth so they can invest in our community.  Together, and with our youth in the lead, we can make our world better each day. 

YELLS Fall 2020 Virtual Programs

Cómo Inscribirse:

PRIMER PASO: Complete la el Formulario de Inscripción en https://forms.gle/ucQSW2takPH5nxQg6

SEGUNDO PASO: Personal de YELLS le enviara un paquete de formularios para revisar, firmar y presenter a traves de DocuSign

TERCER PASO: Envíe por email los siguientes documentos a register@YELLSinc.org:

  • Prueba de dirección en Franklin Gateway
  • Verificación de ingreso de todos los miembros de la vivienda de más de 18 años, incluyendo asistencia del gobierno. (los últimos 2 meses consecutivos de talones de cheque, carta del empleador con membrete de la compañía, records de TANF, cupones de comida y verificación de almuerzo escolar gratis o precio reducido)
  • Copia de identificación con foto del niño/a y de TODOS los miembros de la vivienda
  • Copias de tarjetas de Seguro Social del niño/a y TODOS los miembros de la familia

Preguntas:

Registration Questions: register@YELLSinc.org

Afterschool Program Coordinator: afterschool@YELLSinc.org

Community Action Cafe Teen Program Coordinator: cafe@YELLSinc.org

Mentoring Program Coordinator: mentoring@YELLSinc.org

Phone: 770-367-1982

A Message of Solidarity, Service, and Action

Dear YELLS Family and Friends,

We are in a moment where pain and hurt and despair are real for our community.  My heart hurts for the breath taken from George Floyd and the many lives that have been lost, the families that grieve, and for our community that cannot breathe because they must carry this grief and fear.

Reflection and action are both needed to mend our nation.  In this spirit, I want to share my own personal journey as a white woman working in the space of youth empowerment.  When we founded YELLS in 2008, this country was about to elect its first black president—who had himself been a community organizer.  There was shared—if cautious—optimism in our communities about meaningful progress toward equality of opportunity and greater racial justice.  But this moment is not one in which optimism feels possible, and it is one in which silence about the violence that threatens black and brown families is impossible. I have dedicated my life, first as a teacher, and subsequently as the founder and Executive Director of YELLS, to working for those ends: particularly opportunity, justice, and access for youth who are discriminated against, marginalized, and brutalized by a deeply racist society.  I have always hoped that the work that YELLS does—and my service to the Franklin Gateway community—would speak for itself, and that my commitment to our mission would be testament to my condemnation of police brutality and my support of and deep appreciation for my courageous black colleagues.  But assumptions and hopes cannot stand in for strong and clear statements.  In learning from the insights and wisdom of the YELLS staff, as we ready ourselves for summer programming, they showed me that I need to speak out myself, and speak personally, prioritizing both the values that YELLS stands for and those that I seek to enact in my own life.  It’s critical I make clear that I in no way consent to or accept the pain, injustice, fear, anger, and despair that black people have felt for years.  As an advocate for racial justice and radical change in our communities, it is both my personal and my professional duty to utilize my resources and acknowledge that we, as white people, have created and benefit from a system that has always subjugated black lives and suppressed black voices.  I take on the responsibility of being on the front line: figuring out how to create change and respond to the historical and present-day violence inflicted on communities of color.  I pledge my own support for the change-makers of color and promise action as a white person to uplift the work of my colleagues of color.  White people have a responsibility to seek change first in themselves so that they can be in true community with black activists and black community members seeking justice.

I need to speak because George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery cannot speak.  But I want to be clear that although these are the names we hear right now, this issue did not start with them, and if we don’t hold people accountable, it won’t end with them.  Unfortunately, our youth share the burden and sting of racism that follows them each day, and many feel a duty to speak up in protest not only for themselves, but for others.  We have staff that deal each day with racism and discrimination, and now they are pushing through their own pain in order to help our youth with theirs.  I need to speak up and stand up so our youth and community know that they are not alone.

We’re an organization with a mission of empowering our youth to raise their voices and shape their community.  And we’ll continue to do that work. We’ll fight harder than ever to do that work and ensure our work meets this moment and confronts injustice.  This summer, our staff are battling a pandemic to try to wrap their arms around our kids virtually and help them cope with yet another trauma.  We will do the hard work of helping our youth process what they should never have to process.  And we’ll empower them to work through their feelings, find their power, and grow as problem solvers in this historic fight for justice, for equality, and for their lives.  However, while I believe in the power of our youth, this is not theirs to fight on their own.  We must each look inside ourselves and figure out how we can make change in this time, and in this moment.  I commit to looking deep, being vulnerable, using my platform as a non-profit leader, and learning and growing so I don’t let our youth down.  I call on every person to do the same.  We believe in community, and we believe in progress through action, and we believe that together we can find hope. 

Black lives matter, and we must be vigilant and act until this rings true.

In service and solidarity,

Laura Keefe
YELLS Executive Director

We Did It Together!

We did it together! Thank you to our amazing community of supporters for helping us reach our first-ever major fundraising goal!

74 Donors contributed,

surpassing our goal

and raising $34,721

to support our mission &

empower our youth!

A Successful “Be a Voice for Marietta Youth” Campaign

When we shared our need, our community rose to the challenge and raised their voices for our youth! YELLS launched the “Be a Voice for Marietta Youth” campaign in response to the elimination of the Cobb County Non-Profit Grant. In 2019, Cobb County Commissioners made a recommendation that nonprofits no longer be supported by the County and eliminated this key source of revenue for many Cobb non-profits, including us.  This has had a major impact on YELLS, as the County has historically provided up to $65,000 of funding annually to support our operations.

This campaign worked to secure $30,000 to fill the gap and begin to offset the loss of this pivotal funding. While this will be an ongoing need to replace this annual funding, this fundraiser will cover essential operational costs through the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.

Everyone Does Their Part

It truly takes us all working together! Our supporters rallied together to uplift our work and invest in the youth and families who are leading as change-makers in our shared community.

We are so very blessed for our incredible network of community champions and leaders who believe in our work and advocate for our mission. Hear why our community supports YELLS:

Making the News!

Our YELLS Community Action Cafe teens pitched in and led a Phone-A-Thon to reach out to potential supporters. They even made it on the local news! Check out the video and story from Fox5 Atlanta!

Even the elementary youth in our YELLS Afterschool Program did their part by leading tours and sharing about what they love about YELLS and their Franklin Gateway community during the Gateway Marietta CID meeting in January. They were so impressive that they inspired Kim Gresh of S.A. White Oil Company to pledge the remainder of our fundraising goal! This sparked a wave of giving from others as well! The Marietta Daily Journal captured the power of the evening here.

What’s Next?

We’re celebrating achieving this incredible milestone and taking the opportunity to focus on our youth and community. Our next step will be to engage annual supporters to continue to invest in our powerful servant-leadership model so that we can sustain our work long term as we equip and empower our community’s change makers! Reach out to Laura Keefe at Laura@YELLSinc.org or invest here if you’d like to pledge your support!

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Community Champion Sponsors:

Bridge Builder Sponsor:

Servant Leader Sponsors: