Staff Spotlight: Keonda Gaspard, Youth Stand United

How long have you been at Youth Stand United, and how did you find this position? 

I’ve been here since March of ‘22, and I was just looking for an education position in New York. I’m new to–well, I’ve been here three years now–so I had already been here for about a year when I applied to work at BCS. 

Where did you move from?

I’m from Los Angeles. 

Wow, was it a culture shock? 

No, no, I’d been here. I’d been coming for a very long time, back and forth. I travel a lot, so it really wasn’t too much of a big deal. 

Could you tell me a little bit more about Youth  Stand United and what your role there entails?

We help 16 to 21 year olds with education, mental health, work, and job development. All of these are pretty broad because we generally do tons of things under each individual title. So for me in particular, as the Education Specialist, the young adults vary. I have students who are in traditional high school programs, and I might have a 20 year old that had to go back to high school to finish it. I have those that are transitioning into college, that recently graduated, and so I help them with everything from college tours to applications to FAFSA. Then, I have some students who have to go to night school or alternative style schools. There are also the students that are actively enrolled in college that sometimes need you to read over the paper or ask how many classes to take. 

Everybody’s on their own path. I have had plenty of students that I have sent back to school that have graduated, which makes me extremely proud. I think that you don’t have to go to college, but you definitely have to get a high school degree. I want to be a mentor, too. I like to say we’re friends. They know that they can come to me about anything, and having that open relationship  is something that I really pride myself on. It’s pretty cool to be able to be a listening ear and not judgmental.

Are there particular neighborhoods or communities that Youth Stand United focuses on?

We’re based in Brownsville. Everybody kind of lives around here or goes to school near here, so I would say Brownsville is like the hub of where most of our kids are from. There’s a school over here called Eagle Academy, but a lot of them come in from Canarsie or different areas too. 

What are the most meaningful aspects of this job for you? 

Knowing that the students can call and ask me anything. Also, having them complete school and know somebody’s on their team and not asking for anything in return. One of the young men who just recently graduated–he and I’ve been trying to get him through school since 2020. He finally finished and got his high school diploma. To be able to see students through to the completion of their goals, that’s really exciting. It’s also pretty cool because most teenagers don’t talk–they see adults and they’re reserved and quiet– so it’s kind of cool to see them open up as well. They all come in really shy, and by the time they’re leaving, they’re cracking jokes and volunteering and helping and introducing themselves to the new kids. 

What are the social aspects of the program? Do you have extracurricular activities?

All the individual departments do monthly workshops, and they range from gardening workshops to things like how to read a syllabus. We do a lot of field trips as well. We went to a Mets game a couple of months ago, and we went to the Brooklyn Nets. We always kind of spoil them; we feed them, provide transportation, get them the best seats. We want them to get the real experience of it when we go to different places. 

Do you see a lot of the students build friendships?

Absolutely. When they’re out in the real world, they’re like a whole new set of people. It’s really cool to see relationships forming outside of here. 

What are some of the challenges of the job? 

Getting them to open up and view you as a trusted source. Some of them come in reserved, and then they finally  start opening up. But just being able to get over that initial hump of it, where now you’re trusted and they know that you’re not going to just spill their information out to everybody. Because they’re like, “Well, who are you telling?” and we try to keep their information  inside of our program. We pride ourselves on that.

I had one of my young men who just went to SUNY Broome, and when he was going away to college, his family wasn’t sending him anything. They were just like, “Go get in the dorm.” I had mentioned it to one of my friends outside of work, and she asked, “What size shoes does he wear?” And my friend anonymously donated $1,000 worth of shoes, because in college you’re walking a lot. That was pretty cool to be able to get that for him. You gotta show up looking fresh to college. 

What events does YSU have coming up? 

We continuously have workshops, so there’s three or four workshops monthly, always something to do. About a week and a half, two weeks ago, we gave out 150 backpacks full of glue sticks, Crayola crayons, binders and folders. I’m pretty sure we’ll be having some sort of winter giveaway. This week, we have a clothing giveaway, so everybody from infants all the way to adult women can just come in from the community in general and pick up items. We want to bring  out some more of the community-based events, so we’re reaching out to the people here in addition to providing the services that we provide for the youth. We want them to know that it’s more than just the 16 to 21 year olds.

We’re in a community center, Prospect Plaza, so, it’s just about being a part of that. For some of our events, a lot of parents come. One of our participant’s dad came with us to the baseball game because it’s been 30 something years since he went to one, and it was his birthday. We let him be a chaperone with us. And recently, we’ve had people in the community asking, “What’s this program about?” and we actually got two or three new enrollees.