We had the absolute pleasure of working with Youth Ambassadors (YA) to finalize a lease at their new headquarters in the Historic Helzberg building at 3130 Troost Avenue in Kansas City Missouri.

Clemons Real Estate represented the Owner/Landlord and Peak Real Estate Partners represented YA.

How did Youth Ambassadors get its start in Kansas City?

Youth Ambassadors (YA) was founded in 2010 by two concerned Greater Kansas City residents, Tiffany Poor-Lynch and Paige O’Connor, who were seeking to serve, support, and mentor vulnerable youth in our community. Since that time, Youth Ambassadors has served more than 3,000 Greater Kansas City youth in pursuit of its mission to empower underserved teenage youth with important life skills, soft job skills, creative expression, and adult mentors, helping them become future community leaders willing and able to work for positive change.

What made Youth Ambassadors choose this new location?
Troost Ave has been recognized as Kansas City’s dividing line through historic redlining practices. Our hope is to join the other incredible nonprofit organizations working in the area to uplift, heal, and unify our communities by investing in our city’s youth. Our new program headquarters at 3130 Troost Ave is an excellent location with plenty of potential for partnerships that can connect our talented young people to community resources offered by our new nonprofit neighbors, which include Literacy KC, Operation Breakthrough, Reconciliation Services, Metropolitan Community College, and more.

What is the vision for the future of Youth Ambassadors?
Our vision is to help young people reach their fullest potential through creative and innovative programming. By providing a safe space for young people to learn from community members and civic leaders, we are working to ensure that every youth has the resources, experiences, and support necessary for success after high school graduation.

How can the community get involved with Youth Ambassadors and what do you need the most from them?
We are constantly working to connect with volunteers, business leaders, and community members to share their career experiences with our youth. There are numerous opportunities to connect with our youth on community impact projects or at our annual program events that include Mock Interview Day, College & Career Day, and our Teen Peace Summit.

How are you collaborating with other organizations in Kansas City?

Youth Ambassadors enlists a wide variety of community partners to enhance its career development programming with an emphasis on social emotional learning, trauma healing, and violence prevention. A few of our program partners include CommunityAmerica Credit Union (financial literacy training), AdHoc Group Against Crime (violence prevention), the Kansas City Missouri Health Department (violence prevention and suicide prevention), Cultivate KC (community impact projects), Community Capital Fund (community development), KC Common Good & Violence Free KC.

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