Where Accountability Meets Liberation

 

Recognizing the increase of violence among young people and the absence of culturally relevant, teen-focused organizations, YEAH was founded in 2018 by Kendra Van de Water and James Aye. Understanding the correlation between poverty, opportunity, and violence, YEAH provides services to address the short and long-term needs of teens in the evenings when violence is most prevalent.

 

 

Our Mission

YEAH Philly builds real safety, healing, and liberation with Black youth through community, accountability, and advocacy. We work to replace punishment and surveillance with care, opportunity, and justice, connecting violence intervention, youth-led research, and policy transformation to dismantle systems that harm young people.

Our Vision

YEAH envisions a Philadelphia where young people are safe, free, and thriving, not controlled, punished, or silenced. We envision communities where accountability is collective, healing is prioritized, and justice means opportunity, not incarceration.

Our Values

Truth:   We name harm and injustice without fear.

Healing:  We prioritize care before control.

Accountability:  We repair harm through relationships, not punishment.

Liberation:  We dismantle systems that criminalize Black youth.

Power:  We build leadership through lived experience.

Research as Resistance:  We create our own data to drive change.