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Join Youth Advocate Programs (YAP®), Inc. in Philadelphia on November 6, 2025 for our half-day 50^th Anniversary YAP® Making Change Happen Summit. Learn what’s working from young people and families and best practices from leading experts, practitioners, researchers, and policy makers in child welfare, behavioral health, community safety, education, and youth justice. Network with individuals who are a part of the continuum of care that is the foundation of how YAP® delivers community-based services as a safer, more effective and less costly alternative to placing young people in trouble or crisis in correctional or residential care facilities.

About YAP^®: Founded in 1975, Youth Advocate Programs (YAP^®), Inc. is the leading nonprofit provider of services that reduce the nation’s overreliance on youth incarceration, residential care, and group home foster placements. We partner with public systems to provide neighborhood-based wraparound and behavioral health services as an alternative to placing young people in trouble or crisis is residential care and corrections facilities. We also incorporate our time-tested model in our approach to deliver community violence intervention services. Our unique YAPWrap^® service model, capacity building, and policy work make us an innovator in transforming systems.

Location: Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown, 201 North 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA

Schedule: Thursday, November 6, 2025

Registration/Check-in: 8:30am – 1:00pm

Continental Breakfast and Speaker: 8:30am – 9:30am

Summit Host: Colby Tyner
Guest Speaker: Liz Ryan
Plenary Moderator: Alfred Anderson

Session Options: 9:45am – 10:45am

Child Welfare: "Innovations in Child and Family Wellbeing (Child Welfare): Practices and Policies”
- Moderator: Tom Woods
- Panelists:
Justice Reform: "Beyond Punishment: Rethinking Justice”
- Moderator: Michael Umpierre
- Panelists:
  - Diamond Rice
Mental Health: "Collective Well-Being: Community Strategies for Mental Health and Youth & Family Services Change”
- Moderator: Phaedra Anderson
- Panelists:
  - Kimberley Smith
  - Betsy Fox Tolentino
Policy: "From Advocacy to Action: Influencing Policy Change"
- Moderator: Tim Ragland
- Panelists:
Economic Opportunities: Breaking Barriers: Pathways to Economic Success
- Moderator: Darlyne Bailey
- Panelists:
  - Stefanie Mavronis

Networking Break: 10:45am – 11:15am (Coffee/tea/water stations and snack stations)

Session Options: 11:15am – 12:15pm

Child Welfare: "Innovations in Child and Family Wellbeing (Child Welfare): Practices and Policies”
- Panelists:
  - Dana LaCoss
  - Michael - Former YAP® Program Participant
  - Sara - Mother of Former YAP® Program Participant
  - Don - Father of Former YAP® Program Participant
  - Elizabeth Wendel
Justice Reform: "Beyond Punishment: Rethinking Justice”
- Panelists:
Mental Health: "Collective Well-Being: Community Strategies for Mental Health and Youth & Family Services Change”
- Panelists:
Policy: "From Advocacy to Action: Influencing Policy Change"
- Panelists:
Economic Opportunities: Breaking Barriers: Pathways to Economic Success
- Moderator: Ryanne Persinger
- Panelists:

Lunch Plenary: 12:30pm – 2:00pm

Keynote speaker: 1:00pm

*Note: The YAP® Making Change Happen Summit will offer four Continuing Education Units, or CEUs, through a sponsorship with Bryn Mawr College Center for Professional Development (Center).

Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research is a Council on Social Work Education accredited school and therefore, a Pa. pre-approved provider of social work continuing education. These credit hours satisfy requirements for L.S.W./L.C.S.W., L.P.C., and L.M.F.T. biennial license renewal. Social workers outside of Pennsylvania or other licensed individuals should contact their regulatory board to determine course approval.