Unleashing Youth Potential
Live Y’ers is an after-school and mentoring program that was established in 1991. Our primary goals are to ensure high school graduation, promote a drug-free lifestyle, support career exploration, and encourage post-secondary education or vocational training. These outcomes are achieved through ongoing engagement, caring adult mentoring relationships, and a strong network of support.
What makes this program unique is its long-term approach. We build relationships with participating girls from 3rd grade through high school graduation. This 10-year relationship is at the heart of the program’s success and allows staff and mentors to guide participants through crucial developmental stages to help shape academic success, personal growth, and future aspirations.
Live Y’ers provides a positive after-school environment for students at Glenwood Leadership Academy and Lodge Community School --both Title I schools in high-poverty neighborhoods. Students at these schools often face significant barriers, including low academic performance, behavioral challenges, and food insecurity. School staff rely on Live Y’ers to help bridge learning gaps and reinforce positive educational values.
Live Y’ers places strong emphasis on building life skills often overlooked in traditional classrooms. Girls engage in structured activities that build conflict resolution, time management, communication, self-advocacy, goal setting, confidence, and personal health awareness. Cultural offerings, guest speakers, and field trips expand their worldview, while STEM experiments and career-focused programming introduce them to local professionals and job pathways.
Live Y’ers After-School and Mentoring Program
The program expanded in 2023 to serve boys at Glenwood Leadership Academy. Beginning in 6th grade and continuing through high school graduation, boys and girls are matched with a dedicated adult mentor who meets with them monthly through 12th grade, offering encouragement, guidance, and consistency during critical developmental years. Mentorship will continue as they advance to Bosse High School, ensuring consistent, long-term support for both male and female students.
Live Y’ers is more than an after-school program. It is a long-term investment in the resilience and future success of vulnerable youth in our community. We consider every Live Y’er a participant for life. Several graduates have returned to serve as mentors themselves -an incredibly rewarding outcome for both the mentor and our organization.
In 2024, Live Y’ers served 261 children. 100% of our seniors graduated high school, compared to Bosse’s overall graduation rate of 88%. Live Y’ers had a 0% pregnancy rate, compared to the national average of approximately 16% for at-risk teenage girls.
We are in need of more adult male and female mentors. For more information on becoming a mentor, please contact Mallory Hartweck at mhartweck@ywcaevansville.org. If you would like to volunteer in an after-school session, please contact Courtney Edwards at cedwards@ywcaevansville.org.
Funding for this program is provided by CDBG funds through the City of Evansville and the Department of Metropolitan Development as well as The United Way of Southwest Indiana and generous donors.
