For George Milsap and Tallulah Easley, fighting on behalf of children exploited sexually or in any way is personal. As survivors, themselves, of childhood abuse and exploitation, their personal experiences fuel their passion for their work at Marion County Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. A community-based alternative to youth incarceration and out-of-home placement, Marion County YAP serves children and families referred by Marion County Superior Court Juvenile Division.Milsap, who made his ...

This year’s Baltimore Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. back-to-school resource fair at Cumberland and Carey Park introduced a new resource to the neighborhood. YAP, which partners with Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) as an alternative to youth incarceration, recently became Baltimore’s Penn North Safe Streets program provider.Safe Streets works as a public health approach to reducing shootings and homicides in communities in Baltimore City. Safe Streets staff are me...

More than 20,000 children and families in more than 100 U.S. communities in 26 states benefit from Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc.’s unique community-based alternative youth incarceration/out-of-home placement model.As YAP expands in the U.S. to meet communities’ needs for time-tested reformative justice and child welfare alternatives, the nonprofit’s global programs are also growing. Its sister agencies in Ireland, Australia, Sweden, Guatemala and Sierra Leone apply the ti...

Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc. Board of Directors members recently met policy pioneers and program partners whose work has advanced their alternative-to-youth-incarceration model and justice reform programs. The board members, several of whom are new to the organization, were gathered for a luncheon as part of a board meeting in Chicago, highlighted in this video.Later, the board met Chicago program participants and their YAP  Advocates who empower the youth to identify and realize the...

Less than two years ago, life for Michelle Labrecque was more than 100 percent about her children and managing their complex health and developmental challenges. To say she was overwhelmed would be an understatement.“[My son] has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit- hyperactivity disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, oppositional defiance disorder as well as specific learning disabilities in math and written expression. [My daughter] has been diagnosed with disrupt...