After 16 years of honing our place-based model in the Franklin Gateway community, we are thrilled to share that YELLS expanded our powerful youth leadership approach to a new neighborhood! In 2024, YELLS launched the Fair Oaks YELLS Youth Program for Kindergarten to fifth grade youth within Fair Oaks Elementary…
At YELLS, we believe youth aren’t just the future. They’re leaders today. This past year, the young people of Franklin Gateway and Fair Oaks proved just that, taking their neighborhoods into their own hands and transforming them with creativity, passion, and love. From our youngest K-5th grade changemakers in the…
At YELLS, we believe the power to transform a neighborhood lives within the people who call it home. This year, that power shone brightly through the parents who have joined hands with us to shape not just their children’s growth, but the future of their families and their community. Our…
From the moment Jevyn Clark joined the YELLS Mentoring Program as a silly, but timid elementary school “Little,” he was watching, learning, and soaking it all in. He studied his “Big,” David, as he pitched service projects and brought ideas to life. That early exposure to mentorship and leadership planted…
When Mr. Robin retired, he knew he wanted to use his extra time to make a difference. He had been a 5th grade teacher for three years during his early career, and he was searching “aggressively,” he says, for a place where he could continue to pour into the lives…
We are thrilled to announce that we now have our very own Little Free Library here on campus at YELLS! Little Free Libraries are community tools that operate on the “Take One, Leave One” principle. With this in mind, it encourages students to take a book and leave a book…
YELLS has been actively involved in uplifting the Franklin Gateway community for years, but it’s easy to forget that we are a small grassroots organization that relies on community support to continue the good fight. It is a blessing that our mission to empower the youth of Franklin Gateway resonates…
YELLS prides itself on being a community hub where Franklin Gateway residents can come together to engage with city representatives, community leaders, and their fellow neighbors to discuss the needs and expectations of their community. Together we can accomplish more, and on August 25th we hosted our first YELLS Parent…
After 2 ½ years of shuttered doors, virtual programming, and canceled community events, the Franklin Fair was finally back and better than ever! Reviving this flagship event after all that time was no easy feat for our Mentoring Bigs; they drafted and sent out countless proposal letters, made dozens of…
Since its inception in 2008, YELLS has been fiercely committed to serving and empowering the youth of Franklin Gateway so that they see themselves as change-makers in their own community. While it hasn’t always been easy sailing, one of our saving graces has been the fact that our mission has…
