YAASPA is a youth development organization serving Black youth and youth of color in Aurora and Denver. The organization exists to close a gap that most career pathway programs overlook. While structured routes into business, STEM, and health sciences are common, few give young people a way into social justice, policy, and civic advocacy careers.
YAASPA builds that pathway through programming grounded in academic and career self-efficacy, civic literacy, civic engagement, and racial identity development. Youth move through this work from middle school into young adulthood, developing the tools to become co-creators of their futures rather than passive participants in systems built without them in mind.
YAASPA encourages and supports disengaged and underserved youth to participate socially and politically in their communities and create lasting change. That change requires an informed community, which is why we help youth build awareness of the issues directly affecting them so that, through activism and education, they can redefine the standards placed upon them.
YAASPA was founded in 2010 by Dr. Janiece Mackey and her husband. As a Colorado native, Dr. Mackey saw firsthand how few career pathways existed for youth interested in social justice. Established pathways in business, STEM, and health sciences left a gap for students who wanted to pursue policy and advocacy careers instead.
YAASPA was built to fill that gap. Through civic engagement courses, scholarship fairs, and the Social Sciences and Policy Institute, YAASPA helps youth build academic and career self-efficacy, civic literacy, and a strong sense of racial identity. Every program works toward the same goal. Youth become co-authors of their own futures instead of passive participants in a system built without them in mind.
Today, that work extends beyond the classroom. YAASPA led the effort to repurpose a closed Aurora elementary school into the ABC Community Hub, a space anchored in the social determinants of health. It now houses a coalition of organizations serving the same community YAASPA was built for.
Organization name
YAASPA
other names
YAASPA, Young African Americans for Social and Political Activism
2010
Tax id (EIN)
27-1970080
Category
Education, Community Improvement & Capacity Building, Employment, Social Science, Youth Development
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
PO Box 202092Mailing
PO Box 202092Denver County, CO, US