Listen to this articleAs YEP celebrates 20 years as one of the most successful New Orleans nonprofits impacting thousands of children, CEO Melissa Sawyer was asked to reflect on what advice she would have given her former self when she co-founded the organization as a juvenile justice advocate.
“Stay the course, stay true to who you are, always do what you feel is right, remember why you started this organization, and try to have a little fun along the way,” Sawyer said. “If you do all these things, it will all work out just fine.”
Sawyer stayed the course, and the CEO said she has had a lot of fun on a journey that has been “extremely rewarding and fulfilling, changing kids’ lives for the better.”
YEP Co-Founder & CEO Melissa Sawyer is the 2024 New Orleans CityBusiness “Woman of the Year,” and Sawyer enters the “Women of the Year” Hall of Fame as a three-time honoree in 2012, 2019, and 2024.
“This all just started as an idea among three colleagues to help kids,” said Sawyer. “Now, we have built this powerful community of supporters, board members, and staff, who share an immense labor of love to help our children. It’s been a beautiful journey over the 20 years. What an amazing privilege it is every day to lead a team of genuine people who have become a part of YEP’s story and who impact the lives of young people and the future of our city.”
The Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) provides wholistic, wraparound services through four community-based programs that are free of charge – adult education, mentoring, enrichment programs, and work-based employment readiness learning. These programs annually reach more than 1,000 underserved young people across 13 parishes and across five locations: Central City, Mid City, Algiers, New Orleans East and St. Charles Parish.
How YEP Started – Canadian, ‘eh’, Eyes Juvenile Justice Reform
A British Columbia, Canada native, Sawyer traveled to New Orleans with Teach For America. She stayed in New Orleans for two years, teaching at Booker T. Washington High School. Sawyer then left for Harvard University to pursue her master’s degree in education.
Through a colleague at Harvard, Sawyer was introduced to leadership at the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana. Sawyer then returned to Louisiana and worked for three years with the Juvenile Justice Project. In her role, she worked on statewide juvenile justice reform and worked to get children out of jail and into rehabilitation services. In this role, she also met colleagues Rebecca Kendig (LCSW, Ph.D.), and the late Angela Conyers-Johnese (esq.).
Sawyer said the three learned that there was a lack of services available to young people trying to make the transition home from state facilities. It was this realization and out of the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2003 that drove the three colleagues to launch YEP in 2004. They started the first reintegration program in Louisiana for youth returning home from state facilities.
“The three of us shared a lot of passion, a sense of responsibility, and a commitment to fight tirelessly to modify the habitually egregious sentences handed down to children,” said Sawyer. “YEP was founded on an unmatched work ethic and passion that still exists today.”
In its first year, YEP engaged 25 young people, had a staff of five employees, a budget of $235,000, and operated out of one building at the corner of Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard and Terpsichore Street in Central City. Then Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.
After Katrina, with a city left in shambles of damaged homes, closed schools, displaced families, and recovering neighborhoods, Sawyer can recall YEP also struggling, having little to no money in the bank. Sawyer approached the Office of Juvenile Justice to partner with them and help reconnect incarcerated children with their displaced families. The aftermath of Katrina also set up an opportunity for YEP to increase its services – introduce counseling programs, mentoring, and education programs, such as the GED program. YEP received two grants to hire adult education teachers and assist 40 young people interested in working towards their GED.
“I look back with awe and maybe still a little confusion about how we actually made it to where we are, starting a year before Hurricane Katrina,” said Sawyer. “Resilience has just always been at the heart of this organization. We just kept our head down, kept growing, and realized the tremendous need for our children that we needed to help after Katrina.”
The program YEP Educates launched in 2006 as an alternative pathway for students 16 and up to build literacy skills and earn their high school equivalency diploma (HiSET). This program now has close to 700 graduates. This year, a record-breading 84 graduates earned their HiSET; 55 of them were women. YEP added English Language Learner classes and a HiSET en Espanol program that provides Spanish speakers the ability to earn their high school equivalency.
YEP Enriches began in 2009 and provides out-of-school time enrichment programming for ages 7 to 18. Over its 20 years, YEP has paired 2,500 youth with adult mentors. YEP Works began in 2012 and offers work-based learning focused on employment-readiness skills for ages 16 to 24. YEP’s drumline and dance team has been performing at Mardi Gras parades since 2019.
In 2020, YEP launched a strategic plan, with one of the goals to become financially strong and solvent, said Sawyer. She led capital fundraising initiatives that enabled YEP to purchase three buildings, debt-free; secured YEP’s largest unrestricted gift to date, a $3 million award from Mackenzie Scott in 2021, and created an endowment fund. YEP has now grown to now have 60 employees, 20 board members, and an annual budget of $5.6 million. YEP also lists more than 50 financial supporters on its website that have donated at least $10,000 in the past fiscal year.
In 2022, YEP expanded to New Orleans East, launching the New Orleans East Youth Opportunity Center, in partnership with Educators for Quality Alternatives. The center includes the HiSET diploma education track for middle and high school students, an after-school program, childcare, job training, health clinic, and food pantry.
“YEP has grown because we are nimble, we adapt, and we expand to meet any need that arises across our communities,” said Sawyer. “We are accessible, our programs are effective, we empower children, and we provide families with the resources they need to better their lives.”
YEP recently celebrated all these accomplishments and its 20th year anniversary at a Gala Celebration on Sept. 27 at the Smoothie King Center. New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson served as a Gala Celebration Co-Chair, and the event was presented by Ochsner Children’s Hospital. On the night of the gala, Caesars Superdome was lit up in YEP colors.
“We had more than 500 people, and after I got over the fact of how cool it was to be on the Smoothie King Center floor, I was able to reflect on the staying power and impact YEP has had for 20 years,” Sawyer said. “All of us on that floor have accomplished all this together. It’s a team effort. It’s amazing what a community can do when we empower young people together and provide our children with access to the opportunities they need to achieve their potential.”
Sawyer Connects with Educational Leaders Across the Country
Sawyer is a Fellow with the Pahara Institute, a prestigious program cultivating diverse, values-driven national leaders dedicated to transforming public education. It was through this program that Sawyer met an educational leader from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who encouraged her to become a board member of the Siembra Leadership Academy.
“This is an amazing opportunity for not only me to learn from innovative education leaders across the country, but to also share with other schools all of the successful learning programs that we have implemented to our children here in New Orleans,” Sawyer said. “That’s a good feeling to learn about other parts of the country and contribute something positive that we are proud of as well.”
On the home front, Sawyer volunteers as a member of the Sanford Krasnoff New Orleans Criminal Justice Council, and as a board member of Just One Voice. She was a former board member of Operation Spark (2019-2021), New Pathways New Orleans (2016-2020), Bureau of Governmental Research (2015-2022), GNO, Inc. Next Gen Council (2014-2017), ASI Federal Credit Union (2010-2012), Literary Alliance of Greater New Orleans (2009-2013), Citywide Services & Resources Task Force of the Orleans Parish School Board (2016-2017), and appointed member of Mayor Cantrell’s Violence Reduction Transition Committee (2018) and Taskforce (2019), and former Mayor Landrieu’s Criminal Justice Transition Taskforce (2010).
In 2022, Sawyer was the keynote speaker at the 41st Annual Louisiana Governor’s Conference on Juvenile Justice. In 2014, Sawyer also had the honor as a keynote speaker and “Alumnus of the Year” at her alma mater St. Michael’s University School, in Victoria, British Columbia.
“To be a keynote speaker at my high school was a cool moment because their core values are respect, courage, honesty, and service. I feel like I have strived throughout my career to reflect those core values,” said Sawyer. “They are important to me, and as a young girl, they shaped the leader that I have been afforded the opportunity to become.”
Sawyer’s success has landed her many awards and accolades throughout her career. In 2022, Sawyer was selected “CEO of the Year” by Biz New Orleans. That same year, she received the “Angel Award” from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation. In 2018, Sawyer was announced by NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune as a “300 For 300” honoree, recognizing individuals who have influenced New Orleans history.
In 2017, the Chronicle of Philanthropy named Sawyer among the “15 People Changing the Nonprofit World.” In 2016, Gambit named Sawyer the “New Orleanian of the Year.” Sawyer has also been awarded the “Liberty Bell” award by the New Orleans Bar Association (2017), “Inspire to Empower” award by InspireNOLA Charter Schools (2017), Zurich Classic “Community Impact Award” (2015); Young Leadership Council “Role Model” (2014), “James G. Wright Alumni Award for Public Service” from McGill University in Montreal (2009), and “Courageous Social Innovator” by the Social Entrepreneurs of New Orleans (2008).
“I am extremely grateful for all the recognitions and honors. But I also realize it’s about our team, and everyone in the community who has helped YEP accomplish so much over our 20 years,” said Sawyer. “We have many more years to go, many more children to help, many more families to impact, and I am motivated by the work we are going to continue to do in this city.”
A publication profiling the honorees will be inserted into the November 15 issue of CityBusiness.
To read a full list of honorees, click here.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
