Mentoring 2023 “Bigs” with Mentoring Coordinator: Erica Smith and Executive Director: Laura Keefe
The 2023-2024 Mentoring Retreat was a huge success! Each year, to welcome our “Bigs” into the Mentoring program, we host a retreat that emphasizes and teaches the importance of the YELLS values. “Bigs” are 9th-12th grade students who will be paired with one elementary schooler that they will mentor and assist with homework. They focused on building a sense of teamwork and bonding within our YELLS family, understanding the essential skills and various roles of an effective mentor/Big, and sharpening their relationship-building skills.
Upon arrival, each Big received a bag containing the tools necessary for their journey during the 24-hour retreat. Before entering our facility, each Big wrote down something they would be letting go of as they entered the retreat. Once they entered the main space, there were tons of games for them to engage with and each Big was encouraged to interact with at least one person they didn’t know.
To conclude the night, each member of the YELLS Family gathered for a candle ceremony. During our candle ceremony, each Big along with every staff member shared how they would let their light shine in our program during this upcoming school year. Our Executive Director started the ceremony by lighting the initial candle and passing it around to each member of the circle. The ceremony significantly impacted the Bigs because each member of the circle was reassured that they could rely on their peers for support in the areas where they still have room to grow. The ceremony also set the tone for collaboration, teamwork, and dependability throughout the school year.
On Saturday, in preparation for the school year, the Bigs did a role-playing session where they acted out different scenarios that they could encounter with their Little during their sessions. This activity taught the students how to respond and prepare for some of the things they could possibly experience with their little. At the end of the activity, each student was tasked with sharing a helpful tip for dealing with specific situations with their peers.
Saturday Afternoon, the Bigs were tasked with going out into the Franklin Gateway community and completing a scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt included things such as “introduce yourself to a member of the community, take a picture with a community member or in front of an apartment complex, and share information about the YELLS Mentoring Program with a member of the community. The Bigs also created “Little Jars of Sunshine” that included tiny inspirational messages and they were able to share those with the community as well.
Our Mentoring Retreat was a huge success! We’re so excited for to see our Bigs flourish as Mentors in our program and we can’t wait to see the fun activities they have planned.
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 cold calls, and faced setbacks and challenges in the months leading up to the day of this big community project. But thanks to their dogged determination and the incredible generosity of community partners, our Bigs came together on April 30th to organize one of the biggest Franklin Fairs in recent memory! Even more importantly, our Bigs were finally able to bring Franklin Gateway residents together to celebrate the diversity and resilience of their community.
This amazing tradition of our Bigs and Littles leading this day of community-building is made possible through the National Police Athletic League who funds our Marietta PAL/YELLS Mentoring Program. Just like us, National PAL prioritizes youth growing as change-makers as they give back through service projects. We also are truly blessed for local partners like Stablegold Hospitality, who became our signature sponsor for the Franklin Fair event. With that being said, let’s take a look back on some of the best highlights from the day…
The Big Day
The morning of the Franklin Fair brought with it clear skies and a brisk summer breeze, boding well for the action-packed day to come. With the event slated to kick off at 1pm, Mentoring Bigs and YELLS staff arrived early at the Franklin Gateway Sports Complex to set up the attractions and brief each other on what the day would look like. As community volunteers and local vendors began to trickle in and take their places, our Bigs began to feel the weight of this community project and what it would soon mean for this community.
“It was surreal,” said Daisy, one of the Mentoring Bigs this year who worked on the marketing for the Franklin Fair. “I didn’t expect it to happen, or for so many people to come to be honest but it was so cool to see it all come together on the day!”
Our Bigs all had their roles for the day– Jevyn, Tristan, and Malai were the designated Game Masters in charge of facilitating and refereeing the main tournament games. Ashanti and Alivia were responsible for holding down the Single Parent’s station, where they teamed up with The Hope Box to provide parents with free baby supplies like diapers, formula, cleaning products, and medicine, as well as connecting families with accessible community resources and social services. And then there was KaMya, who was the Franklin Fair MC for the day! With her mic in hand, KaMya was the official host of the Franklin Fair, welcoming guests, introducing the different performers, and keeping everyone on track throughout the day with updates to the event schedule. Shout-out to “Jessica It’s All Good” for bringing the DJ equipment and coaching KaMya to rock her role as MC! The rest of the Bigs and Littles took their places at their stations and prepared themselves for an exciting day of high-energy games and community service!
The doors to the Franklin Fair opened at 1pm and already people were arriving to the sound of music and the aroma of hot dogs filling the air. As people settled in, they had the chance to walk around and interact with the different community booths and play mini-games like limbo or four square. Eventually, MC KaMya introduced the first entertainment act of the day, a performance from the Marietta High School “Beta Phi” Step Team, led by Mentoring Big Malai! Beta Phi blew us all away with their energetic performance and synchronization, setting a high bar for the rest of the big events of the day.
Pie Eating Contest
Shortly after the hour mark, the first big tournament game of the day was set to begin– the pie eating contest! Contestants were given two minutes to eat as much pie as they could without using their hands, and people rushed to the field to snag a spot around the six contestants who were getting ready to chow down! A few of our Littles L-O-V-E pie and decided to compete, and they were joined by one of our Middles and even Sheriff Jameel Fraser from the Cobb County Sheriff’s Department! People cheered the contestants on as they shoved their faces into their pies, doing their best to inhale as much of the pastries as possible before time was up. When all was said and done, the winner of this year’s pie eating contest was one of our own Mentoring Littles, Williams!
There was plenty for people to do in between the main tournament games. The bouncy castle kept the kids entertained for hours, and community partners lined the field with their tables and offered a variety of services, supplies, and advice for members of the community. Our grill master was serving hot dogs all day which our Bigs handed out to anyone who asked. And whether it was soccer, limbo, basketball or cornhole, people had their pick of carnival-style games to play against their friends as everyone waited for the next big tournament game…
Potato Sack Race
Soon came time for the second big event of the day– the potato sack race! This hugely popular race brought contestants of all ages together to pair up and test their speed and agility against one another. Elementary schoolers versus high schoolers, police officers versus firefighters, we had many community members trying to edge out their competitors for a shot at first place. When all was said and done, the race really came down to a photo finish!
Water Balloon Toss
The last big tournament game of the afternoon was thewater balloon toss! This game challenged contestants to work together in pairs to throw as many water balloons from one side to the other without bursting any in the process. With each round contestants took a step back, and inevitably there were splash casualties, but most of the balloons safely made it to the other side! This game was great because anybody could get involved and play, making it an entertaining tournament for everyone. The winners of the first round went head-to-head in the final, with two members of the Beta Phi step team taking home the bragging rights.
When all was said and done, over 300 people attended the 2022 Franklin Fair! It was a beautiful day full of flourishing community connections and an overarching celebration of the Franklin Gateway community. Eventually, after a full day of building community connections and having fun, people slowly started clearing the sports complex and returning home. As the sun began to set on the Franklin Fair, there was a feeling in the air that something truly monumental happened that day, and that our Mentoring Bigs were at the heart and soul of it.
“This past Franklin fair was just so incredible after a couple of years of the pandemic really not allowing people not just to have the Franklin Fair, but to have people gathered together,” said Board member George O’Donnell who attended the fair. “And to have an event like Franklin Fair where the whole community was able to come together and have fun and do things together, it was just an amazing experience.”
We want to thank all of the sponsors and partners that supported the Franklin Fair. Without their help, the Franklin Fair would not have been as impactful to this community as it was. Big thank you to Marietta PAL, the City of Marietta, Stablegold Hospitality, the Marietta Police Department, Cobb Collaborative, Catholic Charities Atlanta, Amerigroup, Marietta Fire Department, Krispy Kreme, Grace Chapel Fellowship, and theFranklin Road Community Association.
We also want to thank all of our vendors and community partners who provided valuable resources, support, and advice to Franklin Gateway residents who attended the Franklin Fair. Thank you to Girls Inc., FRCA, “Jessica It’s All Good”, Secrete The Boss, Amerigroup, Cobb Collaborative, The Hope Box, CORE Georgia, Marietta City Schools, Lockheed Elementary, and former Mentoring Big Miguel Enriquez.
Wow, what a journey this past year has been! With yet another year under our belts, we want to take a look back on the past 12 months and show you what we’ve been up to! 2021 was a year with lots of challenges that tested our resilience as an organization, but it was also a year of immense growth and accomplishments. Like many other organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic has redefined how YELLS approaches its programs and services for the youth of Franklin Gateway. Many of our non-vital services (like these recurring newsletters) really took a hit as we had to channel our full attention towards operating our programs in a way that ensured the safety of our staff and students while still providing valuable educational experiences and community building opportunities for our youth. From virtual programming to safely reopening our doors, it has been quite the learning experience doing what we do during the pandemic! Now, as the sun sets on one year and rises on another, we feel empowered to take on 2022 with confidence and faith in our YELLS family and community partners, knowing that whatever happens, we will be okay. So with that in mind, let’s reflect on this past year and bring you up to speed!
Achieving Outcomes
Despite the challenges of virtual programming during the 2020-2021 school year, we achieved incredible outcomes for our youth and families! In total, YELLS served 108 youth and their families in 2021. Last May, YELLS youth had a 100% graduation rate with all 11 of our seniors graduating high school, plus 4 YELLS students who graduated a year early! Additionally:
96% of our youth were promoted on grade level
88% of youth improved by a letter grade or maintained a B or above in Math or ELA.
95% of YELLS parents rated their child’s self-esteem and confidence after participating in YELLS as “excellent” or “ good” (this represents an increase from only 54% on pre-surveys at the start of the year)
And it doesn’t stop there! Throughout the year, our YELLS Community Action Café high school teens participated in professional development workshops where they learned to write strong resumes, practiced interviewing skills, and developed networking and outreach techniques by engaging with partners to facilitate new programs to serve their community. All in all, the professional skills we taught them proved fruitful as 9 YELLS teens secured jobs!
YELLS was also successful in implementing new ways to support our youth once we did return to in-person programming. This past fall, our Volunteer Engagement Specialist, Ms. Amanda, introduced a new initiative to the YELLS Afterschool Program called Scholar Dollars! The Scholar Dollars program incentivizes our ASP kids to improve their academic enrichment by rewarding their extra effort with YELLS-branded “scholar dollars” that they can use to purchase a host of prizes and special experiences. Click here to learn more about how Scholar Dollars have gotten our students excited about reading, completing their homework, and taking on new assignments!
We are very proud of the outcomes we achieved this past year because it reflects the growth and success of the youth in our programs! It is also a reminder of the work still to be done to empower our young people to rise up as servant leaders in their community.
Making the Most of Virtual
All YELLS programs remained virtual during the 2020-2021 school year, with our team expertly navigating virtual programming to provide engaging workshops, emotional support and wellness, and daily individualized tutoring for our youth. There is a genuine concern that students in general are being negatively affected by the loss of in-person schooling, suffering academically, socially, and emotionally as a result. For this reason, it was imperative for us that we offered strategic and individualized instruction for our youth in order to offset the gaps from lost in-person schooling. Our virtual programs allowed our students to connect with their peers while also expanding their academic enrichment and creating content aimed at practicing social and emotional skills that may have been impacted during virtual learning.
We also strived to support our YELLS families directly during this difficult time. Our families received activity supply drop-offs to aid in their child’s virtual learning as well as book donations delivered right to their doorstep! We also connected families with resource referrals to meet their immediate needs and informed parents with tools and coping strategies to navigate the pandemic. Perhaps most impactfully, YELLS also raised funds to provide over $20,000 in rental assistance to families struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic! We felt truly blessed to be able to assist our families in this way, especially considering all of the love and support they have shown us in the past.
There was a lot to be proud of in the virtual space for our youth! We watched our ASP kids mature and find their voice as they gained skills in coding and debating, and learned to examine complex issues in our society. They also learned to adopt a growth mindset through interactive virtual activities like designing their own “I am Powerful” posters, turning negative statements into “I can” statements, learning about love languages, and practicing positive self-talk and affirmations.
ASP youth also studied the importance of civic engagement and voting when we all got together on Zoom to watch the Inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Harris. Our kids celebrated in style as they dressed up with pearls and American flags that we provided in their drop-off packages. Afterwards, they wrote their own presidential pledges and together analyzed Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem. It was beautiful to watch our youth speak with confidence while respecting their peers’ opinions as they applied what they learned to solve our nation’s problems and debate in what ways we have and have not achieved MLK’s dream.
Being in the virtual space challenged our Community Action Café teens to think outside the box and find creative ways to serve the community in the midst of a pandemic. Our CAC teens dream big, and together they came up with some amazing ideas for outdoor, socially-distanced events that would bring the community together safely. They learned to effectively navigate various mediums both as professionals and community leaders as they created digital fliers, sent professional emails, and advertised their events on social media. They also showed initiative when it came time to planning and organizing their resources on the day.
The first was a “Paint and Vibe” event that brought families together in the YELLS parking lot to have fun and paint some beautiful art! They also planned the “Parking Lot Cinema” outdoor movie night, where our families and youth enjoyed pizza and snacks while watching a movie together on a projector. These events were a lot of fun, and we were really proud of our teens for rising to the challenge and planning meaningful events for our families to come together safely!
Welcome Back to In- PersonSummer Camp!
After months of virtual programs, we were (finally!) preparing to open our doors for in-person summer camp! It had been over a year since YELLS had any students in the building, so we knew how important this six-week summer camp was going to be as we continued to reopen and understand our boundaries. Most importantly, we finally got to see our kids in person again!
Our summer camp began in June 2021 and ran for nine hours every day for six weeks, providing significant support to parents who rely on YELLS for childcare. Our Volunteer Engagement Specialist, Ms. Amanda, began with us that June and got to experience YELLS for the first time in that space. In reflecting on the summer, Ms. Amanda only had positive things to say about the in-person summer camp experience.
“I think it was really successful! It got us to see and think about what worked, and it also allowed us to prep the space for in-person learning because we were able to see what individual activities we could do, and have our protocols in line,” she said. “And a lot of the kids who came back after summer camp already had a strong idea about what the protocols looked like and were already in that mindset of being respectful of the space. It also prepared staff to see what worked, what didn’t work, how many supplies were needed and how to share and distribute different games to different pods.”
Every day our ASP kids launched into choice clubs, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) challenges, book clubs, and other literacy activities led by our staff. The rest of the day – thanks to a partnership with the City of Marietta – was spent at the sports complex fields where we all got to run around, play sports, and enjoy the sunshine!
For one of the choice clubs, our leadership instructor (and former YELLS youth) Ansleigh, led a music club for the kids where each week was dedicated to a different genre and they would listen to music and learn about the history of that particular genre! One week, Ansleigh took our kids through the history of rap and its origins, and as an exercise each child wrote their own rap verses, which they really enjoyed! Another choice club that we had was our French club, where one of our former AmeriCorps VISTAs taught our youth some French, led them in decorating croissants, and together they built models of the Eiffel Tower, further encouraging their engineering and art skills.
In past years during summer camp, YELLS would take a field trip every Friday to keep our kids moving and learning in different fun settings. Although we couldn’t travel anywhere because of COVID, we still wanted to provide our youth with fun alternative field trip experiences within Franklin Gateway. One of these in-house field trips was a petting zoo that we set up at the sports complex, and our kids had an absolute blast playing with bunnies, chickens, pigs, and goats! They got to hold and pet the animals while they learned all about them. This was one of the highlights of summer camp and it’s certainly something that we are looking to do again considering how much the kids loved it!
Our Café teens were also involved in summer camp! Every day they participated in an Art Fellowship Track and a Media Production Track, where they experimented with different artistic mediums, produced a short video, and even hosted their first podcast! These rotations were helpful in teaching our teens how to combine their artistic creativity with media production know-how to create exciting content across different platforms.
Of course, we did have to make some adjustments given the nature of operating during a pandemic. But being back in-person allowed us to go more in-depth than in our virtual programming to really fill those learning gaps and rebuild those social-emotional skills between youth and families. All in all, in-person summer camp was a huge success and really set the tone for what in-person programming would look like during the school year.
Connecting with the Community
When August rolled around, we were able to open up our programs again alongside the school schedule for the first time in over a year! It felt so good to finally be back together again, and even though we were masked up and socially distanced, we all knew this was how our programs were meant to be experienced. Reopening our doors also opened the possibility of connecting with the Franklin Gateway community in ways we weren’t able to do because we were virtual for so long.
The school year kicked off with a bang when the Franklin Road Community Association (FRCA) hosted their annual Back to School Bash to celebrate Franklin Gateway students returning to school! The focus of this drive-thru event at the sports complex was to give registered Franklin Gateway families backpacks filled with school supplies to ensure our youth have everything they need to thrive in the new school year. This was a great way to kick off the fall semester and it was a big help for the Franklin Gateway students that relied on these supplies to succeed academically!
More than anything, we were SO EXCITED to have our youth back with us in the building after-school each day this year! The fall was full of learning and growth, and our YELLS team has done an incredible job of developing dynamic activities that kept our youth gaining skills while staying safe during in-person programs. Check out some of our favorite activities:
That being said, those first few weeks back in person were not always smooth sailing. With one week to go before the Mentoring Program was set to begin, we were informed that their usual meeting space was no longer available to use, and it was imperative that our Bigs and Littles had a place to foster those mentoring relationships. Luckily, out of this challenge we created an important new partnership that has quickly become a staple of the Mentoring Program today. Laura connected with Mr. Richard Leon, Director of Sales and Marketing at The Radisson Hotel just down the street from YELLS, who generously offered for The Radisson to host the Mentoring Program, first until the end of the year, and then that offer was extended through the end of March 2022 at least! Click here to learn more about our partnership with The Radisson and Mr. Richard Leon, and we want to extend our deepest gratitude for how they have supported the Mentoring Program these past few months. We really couldn’t have done it without them!
Incredibly, The Radisson wasn’t the only new partner that we gained this fall. We also grew our partnership with Food Security for America (FSA) and added a new partner, Northside United Methodist Church (NUMC), to allow us to provide weekly produce to families at YELLS. FSA now offers access to fresh fruits and veggies, and the awesome volunteers at NUMC sort this fresh produce and deliver them to YELLS weekly for our Community Action Café teens to then distribute out to our families at dismissal. This came to be known as Produce Tuesday! This partnership also gave our teens the opportunity to practice skills that they would normally develop through serving customers in the Café by coordinating the deliveries and building relationships with families as they handed the produce to parents each week. The teens even created recipe cards so families could get creative with healthy ways to incorporate the different produce into their meals. All in all, Produce Tuesday has been a great way for YELLS to restore community connections between our Franklin Gateway families while providing them with fresh and healthy produce!
After a few weeks of providing fresh produce to our families, we noticed that we would always have a couple extra bags left over, and we wanted to find a way to give this produce away while still supporting Franklin Gateway residents. We learned that McCleskey-East Cobb Family YMCA organizes their own food drive at the Dwell Apartments across the street from YELLS every Wednesday, and so we partnered with them by donating our extra produce to their food drive! We are very proud of this partnership because it ensures that, even when we aren’t directly helping the families on Franklin Gateway, we can still support the people who are.
As fall rolled on, we continued to think about how we can organize different events that would bring the YELLS community together in a safe way. One such event was Trunk or Treat, which was spearheaded by our wonderful Bilingual Family Engagement Specialist, Christi Graham! This unique Halloween event brought out everyone’s creative side by decorating the trunks of their cars with spooky and exciting stations, from a haunted house to a portal to another dimension!
The pandemic has certainly affected how kids everywhere trick-or-treated, so it was a special moment watching our youth getting excited about Halloween as they walked around in their costumes interacting with the different stations. This event was a huge success and showed us all that we can still come together and have fun while also practicing safe protocols.
Our Community Action Café teens stayed engaged with weekly culinary workshops where they learned to prepare a variety of treats, from nachos to hot chocolate, while also pushing them to think about novel ways to serve their community. Although we couldn’t invite any community members up to the café to enjoy these treats because of our COVID protocols, our teens set up a hot chocolate bar during dismissal to serve to kids and families as they were being picked up. This was a fun way for our CAC teens to gain hands-on experience serving our community while keeping them warm during the cold evenings!
We entered the giving season knowing that there was so much to be thankful for! The Franklin Road Community Association hosted their annual Holidays Around The World Drive-Thru event at the Franklin Gateway Sports Complex, where so many Franklin Gateway families were blessed with presents donated and sorted by our community volunteers!
By the end of the year, we were especially fortunate to have so many (and we mean SO MANY!) gifts and toys donated for our kids from a bunch of different community partners! Special thanks to Marietta Police Athletic League, Home Depot Marietta Technology Center, Parkway One and Two, Bridging The Gap, United Way of Greater Atlanta, and Assurant (phew!) for each going out of their way to find out what our YELLS kids wanted for the holidays, and boy did they deliver on the gifts! Our kids were ecstatic to take home their presents, and it was a real highlight of ours to see so many partners show their love for YELLS like that. Thank you to everyone who donated to YELLS during the holiday season!
Looking Ahead to 2022
As we close the door on everything that we’ve accomplished in 2021, we face this new year with a lot to look forward to! Our Community Action Café teens will be flexing their marketing and culinary muscles as they work towards launching a mobile cafe for the Franklin Gateway community. Hopefully, community members will soon be able to enjoy tasty treats made by the teens that they can pick up outdoors in front of our YELLS building or in spots throughout the community!
This year, our Mentoring Program Bigs are finally taking the reins and are planning two incredible service projects for the Franklin Gateway community. The first is a single mothers event aimed at supporting single mothers in the community by connecting them with valuable community resources, as well as helping to build a network of mothers willing to support and uplift each other. We are beyond proud of our Bigs for having the awareness and empathy to think of the mothers of our community in this way. We see it as a direct reflection of the values and mentality that we aim to instill in our youth: empowering our youth to believe that they not only possess the skills, but hold the duty, to change their world!
The second event is the Franklin Fair! The Franklin Fair is an annual celebration of the community that sees Franklin Gateway residents come together to eat culturally diverse food from local restaurants and play fun carnival games! This community hasn’t seen a Franklin Fair since the spring of 2019, so for our Bigs and Littles to work hard to bring this event to life will symbolize a significant milestone for them, considering all that they’ve been through.
YELLS Bigs came up with these amazing projects after an extensive exploration of their community. They learned to conduct a community needs assessment where they identified strengths and areas for growth after reflecting on a community-wide scavenger hunt. They also explored a variety of causes by talking with community leaders and activists during our “Cause Tables” event to spark ideas for how they could create meaningful change on Franklin Gateway. Follow this link to learn more about the Mentoring Program journey over the past year and relish all the hard work they have put in!
This year has been a defining one for YELLS. The emergence of the Omicron variant stands as a stark reflection of the unpredictable and cyclical nature of this pandemic, but it also is a testament to our resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity. We will no doubt have some beautiful successes to celebrate this year, and we will also likely face some hardships. But whatever unforeseen obstacles we will encounter in 2022, we will overcome them the same way we have overcome all the others: together.
Back in 2008, YELLS started out as a mentoring program only, matching Marietta High School ‘Bigs’ with 3rd-5th grade Franklin Gateway ‘Littles’ in personalized mentoring relationships that the students then nurture throughout the year. Since then, YELLS has evolved into a dynamic and multifaceted organization that serves the Franklin Gateway community with three different programs. But the Mentoring Program has always stood apart from the others as a special after-school experience that provides the opportunity for elementary school Littles to be mentored by a high school Big, empowering each other to rise up as leaders while serving their community.
In years past, our mentoring youth have organized various community projects aimed at serving the residents of Franklin Gateway. From neighborhood-wide soccer tournaments to the annual Franklin Fair, these community projects are the result of months of consistent hard work and dedication from our Bigs and Littles. So when COVID-19 shut down all YELLS operations back in March 2020, our Mentoring Program Coordinator, Ms. Brittany, had to rethink how this program could serve these students during this difficult period in their lives.
“In 2019 when I accepted the job, 2020 happened. Projects were canceled; 2021 the same thing. So I have not seen what the big grand finale is supposed to be with these kids. My grand finale was always different,” Ms. Brittany said. “For a lot of our virtual programming and concepts, I had to take the emphasis off of creating community projects; it was more so about surviving the pandemic mentally. A lot of the lessons and everything that we began to talk about was about taking care of yourself during the virtual world, protecting your peace, treating others the way you want to be treated, being a leader, being a light that shines in dark places, those types of things.”
As important as these life skills are for kids to practice during a pandemic, the past two years have certainly been a challenge for the Mentoring Program. Our Bigs had to juggle the emotional toll of the pandemic while attending virtual school during the day, and once it came time for students to log on to Zoom for the Mentoring Program, Ms. Brittany said some students had lost the motivation to connect. As the program coordinator, this hit her hard, and when our programs finally returned to in-person for the start of the 2021/22 school year, Ms. Brittany was fired up to revive the Mentoring Program and provide a safe space for Bigs and Littles to mentor and support each other. More so, she was determined to make the program a meaningful and exciting experience for the students by building up the anticipation for the big day when the Bigs and Littles finally discovered their permanent mentoring match! This is called the Match Party, and it is a fundamental part of this program. Celebrating this milestone goes a long way in how the Bigs and Littles approach and ultimately realize their community projects.
“The whole point of this program existing is for them to be mentors and mentees to one another. So if (the match party) is not special, what’s making it special for them to even want to be a part of this program? That’s how I began to look at it,” Ms. Brittany said. “Once you finally bring them all in a room, and it’s like ‘Hey, somebody across the room from you is going to be your mentor and y’all are gonna do the school year together.’ If that’s the root and the foundation of this program, knowing that this is going to be your person and this is gonna be your person, why not drag it out and make it dramatic and exciting!”
That being said, the Match Party is only successful through the hard work that our youth put in during the weeks building up to that day. And there was a lot of work to be done before they could reap the rewards!
Mentoring Boot Camp
The purpose of the Mentoring Program is to equip our Bigs with the skills and training they need to impact their community while setting a positive example for their Littles. But before our Bigs even get to meet the Littles, they have to attend a weekend of leadership training that we call Mentoring Boot Camp! Led by Ms. Brittany, the Mentoring Boot Camp gives our Bigs their first taste of the Mentoring Program and sets the expectations for the year. It is in these training sessions that they first learn how to use their newfound leadership skills to successfully mentor their Littles while also serving their community.
This year, Mentoring Boot Camp started off with outdoor communication games that challenged our Bigs to communicate effectively to overcome obstacles that might arise when working towards a common goal. As they eventually begin organizing their community projects, these communication skills will be key in delegating tasks and solving real-world problems in order to see their hard work come to life. Additionally, every game that they play during Boot Camp are games that they can lead for the Littles later on, so learning these leadership skills plays an important role for our Bigs in developing their special mentoring relationships.
Next up, our Bigs set off on a community-wide scavenger hunt armed with pen and paper to assess the needs of Franklin Gateway. They took notes on the community needs and assets that they found, and in doing so learned to think critically about the ways that they can impact and serve their community! After exploring Franklin Gateway, our Bigs reconvened in the Community Action Café where they discussed the strengths and areas for growth they observed throughout the community, pinning their observations on the wall to create a giant mind-map.
The back wall of the Community Action Café became a tapestry of community needs and good ideas, and visualizing these needs gave our Bigs a strong framework of the kinds of community projects that would best address the needs of people living on Franklin Gateway. This was vital as our Bigs began to understand that they possess the knowledge and power required to leave a lasting impact on their community.
“I feel like the fact that as teenagers, they’ve already made the decision to want to even be a part of the organization before they even know what the organization is going to give them. I think they’re set apart to be a different type of person, a different type of teenager.” Ms. Brittany said. “So it doesn’t make it hard to take them on this journey because they already stepped out the first box, which is what high school was supposed to be or what they’re supposed to do as a high school teenager. They’re just ready to be different.”
First Day of Mentoring
Shortly after boot camp, all of our mentoring kids came together for day one of the Mentoring Program for that year! This was the first real opportunity for Bigs and Littles to meet each other, and it was also the first opportunity for Ms. Brittany to set the tone for what the kids should expect from this program. She’s had a vision of what this program is meant to look like since 2019, and the time has finally come to follow through on those expectations and hit the ground running!
More than anything, day one of the Mentoring Program serves to introduce our youth to the ‘one tribe’ mentality needed to succeed in this program. This is the theme of the Mentoring Program, and as in any tribe, our Mentoring Program youth must operate as a collective in order to achieve their goals for this year and foster their mentoring relationships.
“A tribe is a group of people or organization of people that work together, to live, to eat, to take care of one another and things of that sort. And I think that means a lot,” Ms. Brittany said. “So for the mentoring kids in the YELLS space, us being this group of people that have to work with little kids and give to the community and all of these things, we are doing a lot together. And I feel like the only way for us to be able to accomplish the things that we’re supposed to do within a year is if we’re all on the same page of understanding that foundation; that we’re doing this together, we’re a unit of people, we’re a group of people. So therefore we need to operate as a tribe, we need to have that mentality for us to all be successful.”
Day one was mostly spent playing different group games where our youth got the chance to learn more about one another while working together. It was also Ms. Brittany’s first chance to gauge compatibility between different Bigs and Littles, and this would serve to inform her decisions on how to later pair the Bigs and Littles at the Match Party.
Mentoring Cause Tables
A month later, our Bigs came in for their first real test as community servant-leaders. They were tasked with hosting a Cause Tables event, bringing together community expert guests to learn about and discuss a wide array of pertinent social causes. As our Bigs began to dream about using their skills and passions to make change, our Cause Tables event provided an opportunity for them to engage with different perspectives and ideas for how they can better understand the needs within our Franklin Gateway community and generate lasting change.
This event was a significant moment for our mentoring kids because it was their first chance to take charge of something bigger than themselves in this program! Our high school Bigs practiced their public speaking and leadership skills as they introduced their guests, welcomed them into the YELLS space, and facilitated important conversations about how to serve their community as it relates to those challenges. The experts we brought in held a wealth of knowledge relating to topics like soccer and community building, the Black Lives Matter movement, the power of social media, strengthening police relations in the community, and more! As our Bigs went around to each table and engaged with experts, these discussions began to spur ideas among our Bigs on how they can best apply this information to their future community projects.
Special thanks to all of our special guests who shared their wisdom and experiences with our high school Bigs! These guests include:
Mrs. Daneea Badio-McCray, Marietta Police Athletic League Exec. Director, and Sergeant Cliff Kelkerwith the Cobb County Sheriff Department: Strengthening police + community relations
Dr. Folami Prescott Adams, CEO of HTI Catalysts: Black Lives Matter and Listening 4 Justice
Jason Longshore, Commentator for Atlanta United FC: Soccer and Community Building
Kevin Keefe, Engineer at Emory University: Transit and People-Centered Community
DeyStegall, founder of ‘Pour Girls’: The Power of Social Media
We look forward to the passion projects our Bigs create and how they will make a lasting difference for our Franklin Gateway Community alongside their Littles!
The Match Party!
Finally the big day came when our Bigs and Littles would learn their official mentoring matches! The Match Party is a big deal, and Ms. Brittany wanted the kids to feel that energy the second they walked in the room. The theme of the party this year was Fear Factor: scattered around The Radisson were different stations, each with a challenge that our mentoring kids had to complete in order to receive a clue that would bring them a step closer to uncovering their mentoring matches!
“This year was the first year of really upping the ante and building the suspense!” Ms. Brittany said. “And not only that, Brandon (a Little), bless his heart, back in 2019 he left a message in our suggestion box and I never let it go: less talking, more games. These kids come here on Tuesday ready to experience something. I have been told over the years that ‘Tuesday’s my favorite day of the week’ or ‘I love mentoring’ or ‘Ms Brittany what we doing this year?’ It’s an excitement that they have about this program, and I can’t let them down, right? I wanted them to be as fear factored and pushed to the limits and build as much suspense as possible. So Match Day happened.”
And pushed to the limits they were! Each challenge was an opportunity for our Bigs and Littles to jump out of their comfort zone and demonstrate to each other the characteristics needed to thrive in the Mentoring Program. Being a risk-taker, going above and beyond for your tribe, uplifting each other to achieve a shared goal; all of this was on display as Bigs and Littles navigated the Fear Factor course. But above all else, Ms. Brittany wanted the Bigs and Littles to have fun and make lasting memories as they progressed through each station together.
Some of the challenges they faced included sticking their arm into mystery boxes filled with slimy substances to fish out clues, or a blind taste testing that pushed our youth to try things they normally wouldn’t. It was beautiful chaos as our Bigs and Littles started completing the challenges and getting messy in the process! At times there were some Bigs who were hesitant towards some of the challenges, and wondered why they were being put through these obstacles. At first, Ms. Brittany took this as a sign that the Match Party wasn’t achieving its intended purpose of bringing Littles and Bigs together. But in reflecting on this, she soon saw it as a valuable teaching moment for everyone.
“I had to let myself sit with the realization that I did nothing but let them know ‘Hey you got a goal. The goal is to find this person that you’ve been looking for since you joined this organization, how are you going to get to it?’ The same thing is going to come when we begin to tackle service projects. This is the goal this day, this time, this place. How are you going to get to it?” Ms. Brittany recalled. “I’m giving them nothing but what life is going to throw at them. And I’m hoping that the mindset of this, even outside of YELLS, applies and they get it. So once I stepped back and really thought about the magic that was born at the Match Party, I thought it was great.”
As Bigs and Littles made their way across the finish line, it was heartwarming to see the excitement in the kids’ faces as they finally uncovered their mentoring matches! Many of the Bigs and Littles had developed strong friendships even before the Match Party, so to see their expectations of who they would be matched with realized was a special thing. The rest of the match party was just that: a party! Matches took fun pictures together and played different games to bond and get to know each other and celebrate their new mentoring relationships.
Every step along the Mentoring Program journey this year provided valuable moments that our mentoring kids can learn from in order to tackle their community projects. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted so much of the work that our mentoring kids were striving for in the past, so this upcoming year really feels like a pivotal moment for our youth as far as developing their mentoring bonds and achieving their service project goals. For some, the desire to succeed has been lit for a while now.
“There’s a fire that’s lit from returning Bigs from 2019. Returning Bigs are like, ‘we want to do this and we want it now!'” Ms. Brittany said. “We have a senior that’s been here since 2019 and she loves this program. She wants this for herself. She wants to know that she did this. She knows she has a group working with her, and they’ve always gotten these bits and pieces. We’ll talk about projects, and we’ll start working on them. But she knows all of this stuff, and she wants to bust this thing out so bad!”
This year, our Bigs and Littles are planning to organize two amazing community projects! The first is a single mothers event aimed at supporting single mothers in the community by connecting them with local resources, as well as building a network of mothers willing to support and uplift each other when needed! We are beyond proud of our Bigs for having the awareness and empathy to think of the mothers of our community in this way, and we are excited to see the impact that this event will have in Franklin Gateway.
The second event is the Franklin Fair! The Franklin Fair is an annual celebration of the local community that sees Franklin Gateway residents come together to eat culturally diverse dishes from local restaurants and play fun carnival games with family and neighbors! These community events are a thoughtful and honest reflection of the kids within our mentoring program, and we’re immensely proud of the work they’ve done so far, and also of the work yet to come. Currently, the Bigs are working on drafting proposal letters to connect with partners that can help provide all the resources and materials to make their events a success! For Ms. Brittany, to see all of this come to fruition would mean the world for her and the youth in this program.
“My goal this year, I really want the double cherry on top,” she says. “I want to put on the service projects, I want to see that happen. I want to see myself at the Franklin Fair with the flash mob that I’ve been hoping to do since 2019. Me sitting in a chair, sitting back eating a hot dog and having a slushy. I want to see them smile and be able to say ‘yeah, we did that y’all, period.’ I want to hear that type of fellowship be able to happen. But the same mission still continues is that I’m helping build strong, positive, knowing-how-to-protect-their-peace young people.”
“I want to see this program come out of my hands and fall into the hands of the teenagers. I want the Littles to feel like they really have a friend in these Bigs. And I feel like that’s happening. I just want us to keep having a good time. That’s what I really, really want. And if I know that the positive feedback is Tuesday’s their favorite day, as long as Tuesday continues to be their favorite day, I feel like I’m winning. I feel like the program is winning.”
At the end of the day, YELLS is nothing without the partnerships that support our mission. We are successful in serving our youth because we have incredible partners that help us facilitate our programs, provide invaluable resources, and who truly buy into the principles that we aim to instill in the children of Franklin Gateway. This month we would like to spotlight a valuable new partner that has been instrumental in consistently providing a space for the YELLS Mentoring Program to meet weekly, organize their community projects, and grow their mentoring relationships: The Radisson Hotel Atlanta-Marietta and their Director of Sales and Marketing, Richard Leon!
Before working at the Radisson, Richard crossed paths with YELLS once before, having been invited to volunteer with us by his good friend and YELLS Board Member, George O’Donnell. “It was just kind of spot projects here and there, like painting the interior of your building over there, again with a friend of mine who was on the board. And so he’s like, ‘Richard, come on, let’s do some painting!’” (Photo/Dito Montaña)
Earlier this fall and with a week to go until the Mentoring Program was set to begin, we were informed that our usual meeting space was no longer available to use. Throughout that week our staff scrambled to find a place in our community for the Mentoring Program kids to gather temporarily until more secure accommodations were made, and in this endeavor, our Executive Director, Laura Keefe, was put into contact with Richard Leon, the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Radisson Hotel just off Franklin Gateway, to see if he could help solve this urgent problem.
“Under new management, one of our primary goals was to establish ourselves as an anchor in the Franklin Gateway community to restore its reputation to be a great neighbor,” Richard said. “And I know this is a cliche, but it was kind of a win-win situation. Laura needed a place, I was looking toward having some type of involvement that helps the community, and that’s what this is.”
Richard Leon, a native New Yorker who came down to Georgia over 14 years ago with his family, has been working in the hotel business for almost 30 years, the majority of that time with Marriott International. Richard joined the Radisson in late August, three months after the hotel was purchased by Veteran Service USA, and was tasked with revitalizing the hotel’s reputation in the community. When Laura approached him with the idea of hosting the Mentoring Program at the Radisson, Richard was able to secure one of their conference rooms for YELLS to use, and what started as a temporary arrangement quickly became an established meeting place for the kids in that program! The initial agreement was until the end of the 2021 year, but The Radisson extended their offer until at least until the end of March!
“I see all the great work that YELLS is doing in the community. And you know, this is really not empty praise, YELLS does important work in the community with our youth,” Richard said. “Being in the hotel industry as I have been for so many years, it’s ingrained in me, it’s kind of in my culture, that if you’re not helping the customer, you’re supporting the people who are helping the customer. So if you’re not directly helping kids in the community in Franklin Gateway, then you should be supporting the people who are. So that’s something I’m pretty passionate about.”
Especially as we navigate our programs during the pandemic, it has been vitally important that our kids have a consistent place to grow their mentoring relationships, and The Radisson has hosted some pretty memorable moments so far for our Bigs and Littles! During the first few weeks of this year’s Mentoring Program, the Bigs helped Littles with their homework, they played games that challenged them to grow in their leadership, and together they brainstormed some truly thoughtful community projects that will teach them to be servant leaders for the Franklin Gateway community! Most notably, The Radisson hosted our Match Party, the big day where Bigs and Littles were matched together through a series of “Fear Factor” challenges scattered throughout the hotel, and since then it’s been so heartwarming to see these relationships growing every week! Our Bigs are learning to be leaders by guiding their Littles through life, and in turn our Littles can turn to their Bigs for support, advice, and motivation. Thanks to The Radisson, our Bigs and Littles are able to focus on building these mentoring relationships without the worry of figuring out where they are going to meet that week.
The Radisson has undergone several changes in ownership over the years, with Commonwealth Hospitality assuming management of the property in May of 2021. Richard said he has a vision of how he sees the Radisson cementing itself as a good neighbor on Franklin Gateway while increasing business for the hotel.
“Well, I see us growing by partnering with other businesses in the community. I have attended some of the Franklin Gateway Community Improvement District meetings and just partnered with them to offer our hotel as lodging options, meeting options, events options. Fill the hotel is my job, get the hotel busy, get foot traffic in here.” (Photo by Dito Montaña)
Anyone involved in YELLS who knows Richard can attest to the fact that he’s been up to bat for the Mentoring Program time and time again. His passion for hospitality as well as the Radisson’s ongoing generosity is evident every time our Bigs and Littles step into that space. We’re very grateful for how this unexpected partnership has blossomed into one of the most directly impactful resources for our Mentoring Program kids. As this partnership grows, Richard remains optimistic about the Radisson’s continued support of YELLS and its mission.
“We’re very proud of the partnership that we’ve shared with YELLS. It’s been a short relationship of only three months now, and we look forward to going into 2022 with that same effort, with that same relationship and just growing and strengthening it,” Richard said. “Because as I mentioned before, we feel as though YELLS is a very important part of the community for mentoring our youth. And I know this also sounds like a cliche, but the youth are the future of this area. And to help them now only helps all of us in the future.”
Thank you, Richard and The Radisson Hotel, for believing in our Franklin Gateway youth!
Please contact Mentoring Program Coordinator, Brittany Timmons, to register or to ask questions!
Email: mentoring@yellsinc.org
Phone: 404-827-8935
YELLS allowed me to see that all people have something to offer.
Imani, YELLS Big
I take everything I learned from YELLS everywhere I go. Your vision is truly being lived out through students like me.
Jonah, YELLS Big
At [the Community Action Café] we get people who sacrifice so much for us, and that motivates us to help those around us.
Tori
The way people see you changes when you help them address a problem in the community.
Ashami
YELLS has been a medium where I can actively change a life, and actively manipulate my own life to be what I want it to be.
Ana, YELLS Big
It makes you feel good to give back.
Devin
When we first came to America we were timid. When we came to YELLS my mentality changed… YELLS has helped me to keep my family together and organized. Taking care of kids by YELLS is wonderful!
Patience Ehehom, YELLS advocate since 2012
The kids don’t always talk about their day at school, but they always want to talk about their day at YELLS.
Tosha Freeman, Afterschool Program Parent
The kids out here [on Franklin Road] are all looking for a better future, and we help them find that better future.
Ashami, Hospitality and Service Team Member
Because we learn about the community [from community members] we are more knowledgeable about the needs of the community.
