Judge Glenda Hatchett, star of two-time Emmy-nominated "Judge Hatchett” and “The Verdict with Judge Hatchett,” will headline Youth Advocate Programs’ 50th Anniversary YAP® Making Change Happen Awards Gala. A former Chief Judge of the Fulton County Juvenile Court in Georgia recognized nationally for groundbreaking youth justice initiatives, Hatchett is committed to using her platform to advocate for systems change.
Hatchett’s speaking engagement is part of Youth Advocate Programs (YAP®), Inc.’s Nov. 6, 2025, day-long 50th Anniversary YAP® Making Change Happen Summit and Awards Gala in Philadelphia. Founded in 1975, YAP® is the leading national nonprofit provider of services that reduce the reliance of placing young people in trouble or who struggle with other complex challenges in residential care/treatment and corrections facilities. YAP® also combines its evidence-based youth and family wraparound services model to help communities reduce neighborhood violence.
“We are thrilled to have Judge Hatchett as our featured speaker as we celebrate the collective energy that fuels YAP®’s work,” said YAP® CEO Gary Ivory. “She will help us celebrate YAP® pioneers and other changemakers whose work has empowered individuals and families facing life’s most complex challenges with tools to make positive life changes.”
Founder of risk management and legal consulting firm Hatchett Consulting Group, Hatchett is currently of counsel with the law firm of Stewart Miller Simmons in Atlanta, Ga. She is the author of the National Best Sellers, Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say (Harper Collins, 2003) and Dare to Take Charge(Center Street/ Hachette Book Group, 2010).
A graduate of Mt. Holyoke College and Emory University School of Law, where she was an Earl Warren Scholar, Hatchett completed a federal clerkship in the United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia before spending nearly 10 years as a senior attorney at Delta Air Lines, where she also served as a Public Relations Manager supervising global crisis management and handling media relations for 50 U.S. cities, Europe and Asia. Hatchett has served on the Boards of three Fortune 500 companies – HCA, The Gap Inc., and ServiceMaster Company and as a member of the National Football League's Atlanta Falcons' Board of Advisors and was a consultant to the National Basketball Association.
Now in 32 states and Washington, DC, YAP® partners with local government agencies to provide rehabilitative, restorative, and other services that are safer, more effective, and less costly than out-of-home care and corrections. Tom Jeffers founded YAP® as a community-based youth justice alternative when Pennsylvania ordered Camp Hill adult prison to release children detained there. Using principles of its unique YAPWrap® model, the nonprofit’s neighborhood-based Advocates and Behavioral Health professionals deliver individualized services to youth and their parents, guardians, and other family members that empower them to see and nurture their strengths and connect them with educational, economic and emotional tools to put their lives on a positive course. Many communities also partner with YAP® to reduce violence by connecting individuals at the greatest risk with tools to turn their lives around.