Youth Outreach Services was founded in September 1990, by Elizabeth Charity. Serving as the Program Coordinator at the time, Ms. Charity implemented youth programs for the at-risk community for over 10 years. Youth Outreach Services was incorporated in 1992 and shortly after became registered as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.

We have an overall success rate of 85 percent of students from our programs graduating from high school and moving on to college or trade school or entering the workforce. Our alternative program, implemented within the Juvenile Detention Centers and Public School System, has a 60 percent success rate by preventing students from reentering the criminal justice system.

Youth Outreach Services has implemented the Job Readiness Mentor Program in Richmond, Northern Virginia, and Washington, D.C. over the past 20+ years. We have provided youth activities in Rochester, New York and Baltimore, Maryland.

Mission Statement

Empower individuals in the local community to reach their full potential, becoming business leaders to create a better Global Society.

The primary mission of Youth Outreach Services is to transform the juvenile offender and ex-offender into an entrepreneur. We offer job training and employment skills, as well as individualized and business mentorship and entrepreneurial training, which will empower at-risk youth and young adults with the necessary skills to become positive, contributors to our society. Our overall goal is to ensure that current and former offenders are not forced, due to socioeconomic circumstance, to reoffend and return to jail or, possibly, end up in prison.

Our History

From its foundation until May 1993, Youth Outreach Services Operated an afterschool program in the Richmond, Virginia area. The program served 200 students and 100 percent of these students graduated from the program. Of the participants, 10 percent of them moved on to enroll in college.

In 1995, Youth Outreach Services received a job training grant from Governor George Allen. During this time, 40 percent of the participating students graduated from college while 80 percent successfully graduated from various high schools and became gainfully employed.

From August 2005 through February 2006, we received a $35,000 grant from Senator Charles Colgan, of which a portion was used to organize a Stop the Violence Youth Conference in Prince William County, Virginia. Over 200 youth were in attendance. The remainder of the grant funds was utilized to renovate our Job Center in Dumfries, Virginia; where we enrolled 25 students in our Job Readiness program. The participants were able to obtain employment or further their education, as a result of successful completion in the program.

From March 2006 until February 2009, we provided food, shelter, transportation and afterschool programs to 23 families in a Home-Based Operation Center (HBO Center), located in Triangle, Virginia; in addition to implementing an afterschool program located in Washington, D.C. These initiatives resulted in an improvement in the grades of 25 percent of the students and employment of 3 percent of the students.

In 2011, Youth Outreach Services partnered with the Prince William School System to implement the Job Readiness Mentor Program.  Area businesses provided on-the-job training through apprenticeships and community involvement. Youth Outreach Services developed a mentoring program that provides employment skills, career- and life skills-oriented education and mentoring with professional assistance from the community.  Four students received summer jobs as a result of this implementation of the program.