Youth Advocate Programs

https://www.yapinc.org

Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. believes we all need access to safe places and positive connections in our communities to fully develop our strengths and realize our potential. For many individuals and families, these fundamental building blocks of healthy development are unavailable, obstructed or difficult to access. YAP recognizes that generational poverty supported by systemic and structural racism has contributed to educational, employment, health, and other disparities in communities across the U.S. and globally. Among these disparities are the disproportionate numbers of youth and adults of color who are incarcerated or living in other out of home placements, such as group homes, residential centers and others. By redirecting justice, child welfare and other social services dollars from youth prisons and other out-of-home facilities to communities where our program participants live, we are helping our systems partners with their goals of achieving racial equity in their service delivery and better outcomes for the young people they serve.