Mission & History

YESPhilly (formerly known as Youth Empowerment Services) was established in June 1999 to develop opportunities for the many youth who drop out of Philadelphia Schools.   For the past decade, YESPhilly has designed and implemented an intensive youth development model for young adults, created innovative programs and curricula, and advocated for more and better targeted resources for high school dropouts.  In our first years, YESPhilly worked with the School District of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Youth Network to establish the Youth Opportunity Centers.  We also supported the start of Mastery Charter School, and created the Twilight School Professional Development Initiative, which helped School District teachers develop innovative instructional strategies to engage out-of-school youth.  

In 2002 we took the lead in getting public attention for the issue of high school dropouts by crafting the Blueprint for Out of School Youth. We also secured local funding for our core program, which includes GED and literacy skill development combined with counseling and educational enrichment activities, and transitioned from the Youth Opportunity Initiative.

From 2004 to 2008 we offered the Digital Media Training Program (DMT), an apprenticeship model that provided advanced media arts training with an emphasis on video production skills.   In 2008, with the change in Federal Workforce Investment Act priorities to youth with low literacy levels in 2008, we discontinued DMT, and added specially designed literacy classes to our program.   In 2009 we were able to further enrich our model, with curriculum development resources, and a GED to College program serving 25 youth.  This program (which we call G2C) supports students through the process of passing the GED tests and enrolling in credit-bearing college courses.

None of this could have happened without our funders and partners.