Positive Change Happens Here. Join the Mission.

Dear changemaker,

As the weather changes, and we enter this season of gratitude, we’re thankful for your support, partnerships and contributions to Youth Advocate Programs (YAP®), Inc. On behalf of YAP®’s Board of Directors and myself, we urge you to fall in love with our mission to deliver and advocate for safe and effective community-based alternatives to residential care and incarceration that empower individuals, families, and neighborhoods to thrive.

For more than five decades, YAP® has helped change the biographies of our nation’s high-promise young people and their families. Your partnership makes this work possible. During Youth Justice Action Month this October, join us in raising awareness about the impact of the justice system on children and young people.

YAP®'s mission and work can be seen on our new refreshed website. I urge you to check it out as it contains all the information you need about how collaboration and your donations help fund the services we offer, the youth and families we serve, and how the organization is affecting positive change in communities across the nation.

Yours in service,

Gary Ivory

President and CEO

Youth Advocate Programs (YAP®), Inc.

Celebrating YAP®'s Partnerships and program participants' success in Memphis

YAP®’s Shelby County Youth Justice program honored community partners and program participants in August for those who have completed the program. Since partnering with the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County in June 2025, 24 Memphis area youths ages 12 – 18 facing or convicted of gun, assault, carjacking, theft, and other serious offenses successfully completed services with YAP®.

Aligned with its unique evidence-based wraparound services model, YAP® hires Advocates who engage with program participants for 9 hours weekly, providing them with individual and family wraparound support. As part of the program, youth can attend weekly group Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress (SPARCS) sessions designed to address violence-related trauma.

The event was hosted by YAP® Shelby County Program Director Darius Ford and his team along with the Juvenile Court’s Community Stakeholder Manager Kimbrell Owens. Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County Judge Tarik Sugarmon served as the keynote speaker.

Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County Judge Tarik Sugarmon

“YAP doesn’t simply supervise young people; they walk alongside them, they invest in them, they invest in their families,” Sugarmon said. “They help them find jobs, reconnect with school, strengthen relationships and build confidence and give them tools to make different choices.”

Below are former program participants who are putting their lives on a positive path and were recognized during the event held at the National Civil Rights Museum.

Nick is working and is in the final stages of completing his GED program. He has also rebuilt his relationship with his mother, which was a top goal for him.

Kenyatta is looking for full-time employment.

Pierre, who served as guest speaker, completed his senior year with a B average. He also delivers packages at night and works for a landscaper in the daytime, and plans to attend college on a band scholarship.

A full list of awardees can be read here. To read more about the Memphis program, click here.

YAP® Baltimore Celebrated Positive Personal Change and Safer Communities

Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott with YAP Board of Directors and staff.

Before the Memphis celebration, YAP® honored Baltimore program participants and community supporters at a celebratory brunch at Avenue Kitchen and Bar. The event brought together participants in YAP®’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS) program, with Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott serving as keynote speaker. Hosted by YAP® GVRS Program Director Hope Knuckles and her Baltimore team, the celebration highlighted the power of community collaboration.

YAP® is one of two nonprofit organizations providing community-based services through Baltimore’s GVRS. The program serves people identified as being at greatest risk of involvement in violence, including individuals with group affiliations, people who were formerly incarcerated, and those who recently lost a loved one to gun violence.

Reach and Positive Change

By early July, YAP® had served 284 Baltimore residents at highest risk for violence; 77 were actively enrolled.
Outreach Workers and Life Coaches typically support participants for about a year, with services tailored to each person’s needs.

YAP® thanks Mayor Scott, GVRS and community partners, and its Board of Directors for their ongoing support. For a full list of honorees, click here.

Thanks to your gifts, YAP® Baltimore GVRS program participants like Sharday are able to rewrite their story. She now has a full-time job and is establishing a positive future for her six children. After serving time and accepting accountability for gun-related convictions, she is working to get her record expunged.