Farewell Letter from Our Executive Director

Dear YouthServe Family,

After nearly thirteen years, I am retiring from my position as Executive Director with YouthServe. It has been an incredible experience, a challenging experience, and rewarding beyond all measure.

When I arrived in 2013, the organization was still reeling from the aftermath of the Great Recession. I am in awe of the small band of amazing people who kept the dream alive through the worst of it and got to work immediately following their lead to rebuild a sustainable infrastructure in support of the mission.

It took time, but we built a strong board and staff, established a reserve fund, and were ready to expand programming at the same moment the world shut down for the COVID 19 Pandemic and all the challenges that came with it. Together with our Board, parents and community partners, we innovated and shifted as only a small organization can do. Astonishingly, youth participation exploded and never stopped! The last four years have been dedicated entirely to increasing organizational capacity to accommodate that growth.

At the center of all of it, the most incredible part of the whole experience is the privilege of getting to know the youth. Helping them to find their voices in a complicated world and watching them succeed again and again was an indescribable joy for me. On my most challenging days, I could count on being inspired by their empathy and compassion for one another as they dreamed and planned for a better world. Lucky for me, I have been around long enough to see many of them grow up and work toward that future in the careers they choose and within their careers, the roles they play.

To all current YouthServe participants and Alumni, I am so proud of you. I am so proud to know you and will always be interested to see how you continue to use your voices for positive change.

To the staff of YouthServe, thank you for being such a wonderful team and for the hard work you do every day to ensure youth have these opportunities.

To the Board of Directors at YouthServe, thank you for this opportunity and experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.

I look forward to seeing what the next generation of leadership will accomplish!

With so many thanks and highest regards,
Jennifer Hatchett