Yvette Russell

Background

About Yvette Russell

My commitment is to support the development, imagination, and willpower of young people. I have more than 10 years of experience as a leader in the nonprofit sector and 15 years in publishing. I have been a featured presenter at numerous conferences on topics such as arts and education, program best practices and the impact of youth development programs. I've spoken to global audiences as a panelist at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, a speaker to US Congressional Delegates and various international organizations. I also presented at the first U.S. Women of the World Festival in 2018 at New York City's Apollo Theater. As part of my work to create meaningful learning experiences for young people I have strategically used data to evaluate and inform program design and impact. Early in my nonprofit career at Harlem Children's Zone's, Truce Media Literacy and Arts program, I led a staff of teaching artists, academic advisers, and a support staff of social workers and counselors to provide wrap-around services for high school students. I helped develop a 4-month creative arts curricula that incorporated learning standards to improve student proficiency. The result was a measurable increase in student academic performance in language arts coursework and their New York State Standardized ELA test scores. As the Chief Program Officer of Read Alliance, I created and led the inaugural Read Alliance Lifting-Up Teen Leaders Youth Summit, a weeklong event that provided panel discussions and workshops on leadership, career and education pathways for the young people who represent the nearly teens served in all five boroughs of New York. My life's mission is to ensure that children have access to opportunities that afford them to build on what they know, challenge them to be curious, and help them to develop the grit it takes to be life-long learners.#arts #academics #activism #youthforward