YELLS was founded in 2008 through a collaboration between teachers, schools, non-profit organizations, community organizations, and community members. Marietta High School English teacher Laura Keefe recognized the power of youth voice, and a community came together to enact that vision in the first YELLS program, the Mentoring Program. A series of community partners including the Franklin Road We
ed and Seed Project, the Marietta Police Athletic League, Marietta City Schools, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Franklin Road Community Association, Marietta High School, and Park Street Elementary School came together to customize the YELLS Mentoring Program model to meet the needs of the Franklin Road community. The flagship YELLS Mentoring Program matches high school “Bigs” as mentors for elementary school “Littles” and empowers them to lead large-scale service initiatives. From its location within the children’s own neighborhood to a commitment to engaging youth as community organizers, everything about YELLS centers on building community through service and collaboration. The result has been youth with confidence, character, and academic excellence. Since the launch of this innovative service-learning model, YELLS has developed as an organization and worked tirelessly to expand its reach and to fill service gaps within its community. After the success of the Mentoring Program, the City of Marietta asked YELLS to expand its services to provide daily programming through the YELLS Afterschool Program, filling the gap left by the closing of the Franklin Road Boys and Girls Club in 2010. Until the launch of the innovative YELLS Community Action Café program in 2014, however, there was still a gap in daily programming for high school youth. Now, Franklin Gateway teens are fully engaged and immersed in community building as they manage the Café as a social enterprise. YELLS still strives to grow its reach and hopes to secure funding to launch a new program for Middle School students so it can serve youth across all age groups in the Franklin Gateway neighborhood.
