Youth Advocate Programs (YAP®), Inc. is thrilled to announce that on November 6, 2025, in recognition of our 50th anniversary, we will host our inaugural national YAP® Making Change Happen Summit in Philadelphia, PA. The daylong experience is a rare convening of national and global changemakers whose interconnected work is helping youth justice, criminal justice/re-entry, child welfare, behavioral health, public safety, and other systems produce stronger outcomes.
The 50th Anniversary YAP® Making Change Happen Summit will elevate the evolving collective energy that has fueled YAP’s 50 years of delivering and advocating for community-based alternatives to youth prisons, group homes, and residential care, and addressing individualized needs of those at the highest risk of engaging in violence.
Panelists, speakers, and attendees will represent a spectrum of nonprofit practitioners, policymakers, researchers, corporate responsibility leaders, workforce development innovators, neighborhood-based employers, behavioral health experts, housing pathfinders, educators, foundation visionaries, activists, artists, intellectuals, and other continuum of care trailblazers, as well as people with lived experience.
YAP® Making Change Happen Summit will facilitate collaboration among individuals whose passion and power are expediting trauma-informed youth justice, criminal justice, and family services systems reform.
About YAP®: Founded in 1975, Youth Advocate Programs (YAP®), Inc. is the leading nonprofit provider of trauma-informed, services that reduce the nation’s overreliance on youth incarceration, residential care, and group home foster placements. We partner with public systems to provide community-based wraparound and behavioral health services as an alternative to out-of-home placement. We also incorporate our time-tested model in our approach to deliver community violence intervention services. Our unique YAPWrap® service model, capacity building, and policy work make us an innovator in transforming systems.
Location: Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown, 201 North 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA
Schedule: Thursday, November 6, 2025
Registration/Check-in: 8:30am – 1:00pm
Continental Breakfast and Speaker: 8:30am – 9:30am
Welcome Remarks: 9:00am-9:30am
Session Options: 9:45am – 10:45am
- Child Welfare: "Innovations in Child and Family Wellbeing (Child Welfare): Practices and Policies”
- Justice Reform: "Beyond Punishment: Rethinking Justice”
- Mental Health: "Collective Well-Being: Community Strategies for Mental Health and Social Change”
- Policy: "From Advocacy to Action: Influencing Policy Change"
- Economic Opportunities: Breaking Barriers: Pathways to Economic Inclusion
Networking Break: 10:45am – 11:15am (Coffee/tea/water stations and snack stations)
Session Options: 11:15am – 12:15pm
- Child Welfare: "Innovations in Child and Family Wellbeing (Child Welfare): Practices and Policies”
- Justice Reform: "Beyond Punishment: Rethinking Justice”
- Mental Health: "Collective Well-Being: Community Strategies for Mental Health and Social Change”
- Policy: "From Advocacy to Action: Influencing Policy Change"
- Economic Opportunities: Breaking Barriers: Pathways to Economic Inclusion
Lunch Plenary: 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Keynote speaker: 1:00pm
Keep me posted on all the 50th details!