We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tonya Kelly M.Ed a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tonya , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Empower our Youth Foundation 501c3 non-profit organization was founded in October 2017 when our middle daughter experienced cyberbullying her senior year in High School. The incident left us disheartening and dismayed in how law enforcement and her school dealt with the severe bullying incidents .She had thought of suicide to escape the pain she was enduring daily. The experience opened my eyes to how many parents/youth in our city were dealing with bullying incidents with no resolution. Empower our Youth Foundation began to focus on enhancing the lives of families, and youth/teens ages 5-17 years old in the Columbus Metropolitan area through educational curriculum, awareness through social/mental health wellness, suicide prevention, bullying resources, community engagement and official reporting of bullying incidents to the appropriate authorities. Our Executive Board consists of six experienced members and four Board Members who are community-driven decision-makers who serve diligently in making positive impacts in the lives of youth, teens and community. The Executive Board members represent a published author, military veteran, entrepreneurs, city official, teachers and volunteers who work towards collaborating with community leaders, agencies, and individuals to establish community partnerships to expand the mission and vision of Empower Our Youth Foundation.
DEIA Statement
WE educate youth on preventing discrimination and racism, suicide prevention, self-empowerment, socialand emotional skills, and how to deter violence while in school, online and in your community.
2022-2023 Highlights
● EYOF Celebrate Life and Diversity Antibullying Fashion Show August 21, 2022 attendees: 200
● Launched The EPIC Kids Literacy/STEM Academy December 3, 2022 ● Developed a Partnership with The UCbus to participate in their microgrant accelerator business program and won a $3065 pitch grant competition
● Secured a $1975 grant from The Columbus Medical Association Youth Council -Boys,Books and Badges Community event February 26, 2022
● Secured a $2000 Title Sponsor from The Columbus Medical Association Youth Council – Celebrate Life and Diversity Antibullying Fashion Show August 2022
● 50 boy attendees at the Boys, Books and Badges community event
● 2022 Chamber of Commerce, MBAC and Columbus Urban League member 1
● Hosted a Empower Up the Girls Empowerment Event – April 30, 2022 25 girl attendees ● Antibullying Fashion show event during the Reynoldsburg Juneteenth Festival 2022-2023 ● Executive Director Tonya Kelly, 2022 National Alliance Public Changemaker Award ● Empower our Youth Foundation was published in many newspapers and magazines all over the United States.
● Work with small business organizations to assist with food insecurity in our community. ● Tonya Kelly was awarded the Sunny 95 January Hometown Hero
Award winner
● Tonya Kelly received the OHMBE award 2022 for Best Family Non-profit organization. ● Tonya Kelly, M.Ed received the 2023 Licking County NAACP Empowerment Award Winner ● Tonya Kelly, M.Ed received the 2023 104.9 Teacher of the Year Award winner – Elementary 1st Place

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Bullying is a significant problem that is experienced worldwide. Bullying has become a crisis that affects millions of youth/teens and even young adults each year. An estimated 10%-30% of students involved directly and indirectly in bullying have left an oppressive negative outcome. Over the past three years we have seen how bullying behavior puts both student victims and the bullies themselves at risk for self-harm, violence, truancy, depression, self-harm, suicide and in a few cases life long social/emotional problems. In order to stop bullying at school, home and in their communities, Empower or Youth Foundation is committed to tackling several fronts, including teaching educators how to have a positive school culture, family engagement and comprehensive approach. We launched EPIC Kids Literacy/STEM Academy in December 2022. The Academy offers youth grades K-5th including a Bullying and Social/ emotional learning curriculum to incorporate healthy living and inclusion for all youth. EPIC Kids Academy consists of meeting the needs of our vulnerable students. Youth involved in our programming made friends, faced adversity positively, grew in resilience, and solved social problems to become Empowered Leaders in their community.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

The advice I would give in managing a team and maintaining high morale is “Believing in the Team you build will do the impossible when they believe they are unstoppable.”

The word that gets me all the time is unstoppable! Let me shed some light on why. One thing that I tend to speak a lot about to my Board is the importance of consistency and acceptance of each other’s gifts. With every positive choice or action your identity grows deeper and your resilience grows stronger. When you believe in each other collectively and individually the results of consistency over time will build momentum, which becomes a measurement of you and your team. The more momentum grown for each other, the more unstoppable you all become!

As a team you must commit to the small goals, feedback and building your network helps inspire the team and encourage high morale even when tough decisions need to be made. Positive growth mindset is infectious, and it’ll spread to others, inspiring them to believe in themselves and others that’s when the magic happens “the impossible becomes the possible”

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In 2022 we knew there was a need for a service to help youth become more confident and have self-empowerment in themselves. We saw that youth could become resilient if they had the right support and soft life skills to help them become a better You!! Empower our Youth Foundation launched EPIC Kids Literacy/STEM Academy in December 2022. The Academy is a 12 week program that focuses on developing and enriching students’ social/emotional skills through STEM, literacy activities, SEL lessons, guest speakers, bullying prevention curriculum including youth being involved in community give-back projects and field trips. Our goal is to build youth/teens character, healthy mindsets, learn positive self-expression, educational skills to be successful at school, home, and in their community.

Upcoming community events:
Empower our Youth Foundation – Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Join Empower our Youth Foundation Board for a ribbon cutting ceremony for their new office! Friday, October 13, 2023 Time 5-7pm
6600 Busch Blvd Columbus, OH 43229 STE 204 (handicap accessible)
Be sure to register via eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/668573731027

BE A Champion Antibullying Fashion Show
A fashion show raising money and awareness for bullying prevention.
Saturday, October 28th 12-3pm after the event guests can explore the Ohio History Center Venue: Ohio History Center 800 E 17th Ave Columbus, OH 43211
Ticket link is https://linktr.ee/empoweryoufashionshow

Contact Info:

• Website: www.empowerouryouthfoundation.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/empowerouryouthfoundation
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/empowerouryouthfoundation
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/empowerouryouth
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/YouthLlc
• Tik Tok: www.tiktok.com/teacherinthecommunity