Message from the
Founder and CEO
Please allow me to extend a heartfelt thank you to the individuals, corporations, foundations, teachers, parents, counselors and friends who have helped to enrich EYM's programs for more than nineteen years. A simple thank you cannot do justice to the warmth and more than generous support you have provided. EYM could not have grown to its present level without your assistance. Your commitment to the success of EYM's programs and ultimately, to the greater success of our graduates, continues to empower, inspire and strengthen our academic foundation and nurture our programs.
Many of you have read the articles and heard the news stories and realize, we have a huge challenge on our hands in our communities. Our Black and Hispanic parents especially women and young girls are contracting Aids. Our young students are having babies as teenagers. Our Black and Hispanic boys are gang affiliated or are so afraid or intimidated by them that their day to day survival is foremost on their minds as they walk home from schools, not their homework.
How do we create peace in our homes and communities? How do we save a child? In our inner-city communities, what is it going to take to change the attitudes of many, who feel that a high school diploma and/or a college degree is a waste of time. How do we make getting an education a family value? As family values erode in our modern society, so does the apparent value of a quality education. Fewer and fewer of our young people are accepting the challenge of obtaining a high-school diploma or a college degree. They do not see education as a viable route to the higher paying jobs of tomorrow.
Street credibility or a high-school and/or college degree?
Too many of our modern-day youth are enamored by misguided media icons, and personalities who openly present a very negative view of an education. They say to our children that success is not measured by what you know, but by what you have . Thus, educators, parents, community leaders and funders, must combine their efforts and become one voice for all children regardless of income, race or gender . We can no longer hold others accountable for the pathologies destroying our communities without including ourselves.
I believe, no I know, that EYM is making a difference. Our inner-city students are graduating from Stanford, Berkeley , USC, Spelman , Cal Tech, Xavier, Howard, and many others. They are entering law and medical schools, applying for graduate programs across the country and have pledged to mentor and assist others who struggle as they once did.
Ensuring our children's future is paramount and EYM makes daily strides to promote the true potential of our students and thereby protect their future. . EYM is here to convince youngsters that learning is and should always be a lifelong endeavor. Education is not a form of punishment but a tool to enrichment ones mind, spirit and ability to achieve.
My friends, the class of 2024 is arriving home from hospitals across the country. Lets change the academic statistics of our students and make certain that all of them earn a high school diploma and that the majority of them, become college graduates. Many of you, who know me personally, know that my faith and determination is relentless. I know what we can accomplish as a team.
Before the class of 2024 graduates, EYM desires to have 21 new locations nationwide, supporting charter, private and public schools districts. So, as my kids say, let's keep it real and get busy!
Angeles Echols
