Celebrating 10 Years of YELLS: A Look Back, February Edition

Celebrating 10 Years of YELLS: A Look Back

2018 marks the 10 year anniversary of YELLS!  It’s been a beautiful journey made possible by each of you.  YELLS truly is a family, and we owe every powerful community project and youth and family success story to the partners, volunteers, and community members who invest their hearts and hands in shaping our young leaders.  To celebrate our ten years of empowerment, we’ll highlight one of our favorite memories from our beginning years each month building up to our Tenth Anniversary Networking Dinner in October.  We hope you’ll enjoy this walk down memory lane! We thank you for taking this journey with us and look forward to the next ten years.  Enjoy this first reflection from our Executive Director, Laura Keefe:

 

On February 8, 2008, YELLS was still a dream.  My teaching days at Marietta High School had taught me the power of youth and the transformative work of service learning, but I had yet to learn the power of the Franklin Road community.

Seeing how youth came alive when given the autonomy, tools, and support to address issues they cared about, I knew harnessing this power in an effort to transform lives and change our world was my calling. I took every opportunity to incorporate service learning activities into my American Literature classes and spent my after-school hours working with incredible youth in initiatives like the 21^st Century Leaders Youth Action Center and Global Youth Service Day.  In partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters, we launched a peer mentoring program that would fuel much of our future work with YELLS.  My colleagues and administrators knew I was restless to bring more service and leadership opportunities to students. I spent months and years searching for grants to make this mission possible, and was about ready to give up.

It was during a 21^st Century Leaders youth conference that everything changed.  The keynote speaker was the Franklin Road Weed and Seed Coordinator, Daneea Badio McCray.  While her words were for the students, her message spoke directly to me as she shared, “If you’re ever giving your all and you’ve invested 110% and you’re not succeeding, then ask for help.”  While I’m confident this directive was not intended to ask her for help, that’s exactly what I did.  A few weeks later I was in Daneea’s office, sharing my vision for youth leadership through service.  To my dismay, Daneea did not provide an easy answer, but that day changed my life as she invited me into the Franklin Road community.

In what I’m pretty sure was an attempt to test my commitment and vision, Daneea encouraged me to bring my students to work within Franklin Road.  It was here I found a community like no other.  Working in the schools and within Marietta, I was no stranger to the unpleasant narrative surrounding Franklin Road, yet what I discovered was in stark contrast.  Franklin Road revealed itself as a vibrant community, diverse, yet unified in working together.  Families were passionate and engaged, yet there was opportunity for a place where youth could rise in their leadership.  I realized my vision of youth empowerment was misplaced – it should be centered in the community.

Daneea placed her faith in me to bring this vision to life, and connected me with the partners to make it happen.  Where I had been waiting for the funding, she convinced me to just do the work and the “how” would follow.  Before we knew it, we had a donated space in Flagstone Village Apartments, a committed Marietta PAL officer, Major Cliff Kelker, who transported our students each week, and a strong partnership with Park Street Elementary School and Marietta High School providing our first cohort of Bigs and Littles.

Without a dime of funding, but with the welcome arms of a community of engaged residents and supportive partners, YELLS began its journey in 2008.  I never could have imagined how much this community has changed me.  I’ve watched Franklin Road and its residents evolve and shape a neighborhood they can be proud of; I’ve cried with families through loss and celebrated their achievements. Franklin Gateway and YELLS truly are my family, and I’m forever grateful to each of you for being part of this beautiful story of love, resiliency, and achievement.  I look forward to continuing this journey and watching in awe at all our incredible youth and families achieve over the next ten years.