The People Who Make YAS Youth Possible

Rylee Cunningham

CEO / Founder / President of YAS Youth Organization

ryleecunningham.yasyouth@gmail.com

When it came to creating this organization, I knew my passion and drive for helping others would carry me through.

My name is Rylee, and I am a 24 year old woman from a small town in West Virginia. My journey with helping youth started when I myself was a young child. I remember driving in the car one day with my mother and seeing a couple of children and their parents underneath the bridge in my town. I said to my mom, "why would those people be outside when it's so cold?". She tried to explain to my young mind that the people we had seen were homeless, and chose to sleep under that bridge for shelter. That did not sit well with me, as I didn't feel right knowing that I slept in a warm bed every night while others did not. As soon as we arrived home, I grabbed a piece of printer paper along with some markers, and drew up a flyer titled: "Kids Who Kare Month" with a list of items I wanted to collect written underneath. After I put on the finishing touches, I ventured off into my neighborhood and began knocking on the doors of those who lived around me. A couple of hours later, I returned home dragging a trash bag full of socks, gloves, old clothes / jackets, toothbrushes, soap, and more. To both my mother and I's surprise, we sorted through the things I had gathered and donated them to an organization that would distribute to those who lived under that bridge. 

Because of this, it was no surprise that this passion I've had to help those around me would resurface as an adult. Within my adult life, since the age of 18, I had moved on from that small town in WV, and have now lived in 5 different cities within the State of Ohio. You could say I experienced a bit of culture shock after seeing what true diversity, poverty, and community impact looks like. From March of 2020 until June of 2022 I was employed as a Correctional Officer for the State of Ohio. Being from a small town, I experienced things working in the prison that I have never seen or experienced in my life. With that, I gained knowledge from those incarcerated as to what lead them to the situation they were currently in. The most common response I received was "it was all I had seen since I was younger, this is the only life I had known." Much like my experience as a child, it did not sit well with me that many children do not have the same resources as others. I rattled my brain for over a year trying to figure out how I can attack this ongoing problem head on, and let our youth have a fighting chance in this world while truly feeling seen. With this, "You Are Seen" Youth was born.