HEY!, Let's Build a House!

Take a look at the house!

Welcome to Helping Empower Youth! And THANKS in advance for your compassion and generosity! 

Helping Empower Youth (HEY!) is an initiative advocating for underserved youth in metro-Atlanta. If you want a better society, you must do it through your own efforts.  Our mission is to provide an opportunity to inspire, motivate and mobilize young people to take action that changes their world. 

We fight for youth self-empowerment by encouraging self-sufficiency while providing opportunity, resources and support.  HEY! has been working in the community for over a decade. From STEM and reading initiatives, to Youth Mental Health First Aid training, HEY! shifted some of their focus and people resources to support young black male youth in Atlanta. 

As the city of Atlanta placed official notice that all unpermitted water sales were to cease, it left a great deal of the young men we engage in a situation where they had to make decisions… find an alternative legally or illegally. The challenge is that COVID-19 closed all city and public and a lot of private youth serving facilities that would have provided a safe place for our young men This coupled with the financial impact of COVID-19 it put the HEY! field granting abilities at risk.  This forced us into daily programming, but we didn't have a space.  Programming took place in the living room, garage, and front yard of the co-founders.  Through shear tenacity and perseverance the work continued and people took notice!  HEY! was offered a house and not just any house.  But the house of Mother Kathryn Johnston, who at 92 years old lost her life while trying to defend it during a botched raid in 2006.  The house has remained vacant until now.  As you can see from the pictures, the house is in need of a total renovation. We need your help. 

HEY! has been fighting for change since our inception. Now is the best time to support us because, in light of the challenges that Metro Atlanta has faced in the recent times, our focus has been removed from the youth that we are truly meant to be serving. HEY! has the unique opportunity to catalyze this moment into deeper organizational sustainability, and to expand our ability to support our youth financially through grant making. HEY! is the training ground, and for a lot of them, a safe place for growth, for the next generation of men of color. 

Here is where your support will go: 

 35% - will go towards renovations, fixtures and furniture for programming and administrative offices at the Mother Kathryn House.

30% - will go towards HEY's Annual Operating Fund (which includes youth focused and led programming and the launch of the youth business incubator).

 25% will go towards HEY’s current 2020 programs, staff, and operations all of whom have gone unpaid since the organization's inception.

5% - will go towards building HEY’s organizational capacity and infrastructure. 

5% - will go towards a contingency fund to help meet the unmet and unpredictable needs of youth participants.

With your support of this fundraiser, we’ll able to further leverage community building and programming that enriches our youth creatively and professionally, and further sustain our efforts to advocate for access to basic viable resources for youth in the Metro Atlanta Area.  

 HEY! PROGRAMS

 Sport for Good - STEAM Academy

 · In School Program: In-school support for teachers in the classroom. Our program infuses small group techniques, hands on reinforcement and tutoring to encourage positive academic experiences for the students. 

· After-school Program: Engagement of young leaders, elementary through high school, in learning about the benefits of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics through Sport For Good.  

· Community Programs: Done in partnership with community organizations, churches, schools and caregivers. (Usually done on Saturdays to support/encourage healthy reinforcements and out of school time. 

The Empowered Leadership Academy

An eight (8) module program focused on small group settings that reinforce young leaders with the social, academic, economic and philanthropic tools needed to effectuate change in their communities. This program houses the Henry Business Incubator inspired by the young men you have met at intersections and street corners selling water. 

Henry Business Incubator: We are on the cusp of launching our youth led and focused Business Incubator! Youth will participate in a 24-week program that takes them from ideation to manifestation and earn seed money to start their businesses at the end. During the training they will continue to work to earn money while developing and strengthening work and leadership skills.  This will produce a directory of youth owned and operated businesses around the city. 

HEY!’S Leadership is made up of Founders/Directors KaCey Venning and “KD” Boyd, and a Board that includes community members, teachers, STEM professionals, and youth. HEY!’s founders have a long history of supporting underprivileged youth.   

NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER We’re exploring every means of possible support, including federal and local grants and loans, but these funds are not guaranteed to come in, so we must humbly ask for your support. THANK YOU! Thank you for your consideration of support and/or partnership with Helping Empower Youth (HEY!) Please SPREAD THE WORD to help us make this fundraiser a success! If you’d like to help in a deeper way, please reach out to us through our website www. www.helpingempoweryouth.org. We know what a difficult and uncertain time this is for everyone, and we understand that there are may individuals and organizations in need. If you’re in a position to support us, we’ll be extremely grateful to receive that help, and any donation to this campaign will contribute to the cash resources we need to address the immediate future.