Philadelphia FIGHT’s Youth Health Empowerment Project has been helping youth and young adults for the last 20 years.
On March 20, Y-HEP held “This is How We Do It,” a ’90s-themed gala to celebrate its milestone anniversary and to raise funds to support its services. Many people ask, What is Y-HEP and what do they do? Y-HEP is a trauma-informed, comprehensive adolescent and young-adult program that offers holistic health services to more than 3,000 high-risk and high-promise urban youth ages 13-24 living in Philadelphia.
Although Y-HEP is now a large and dynamic organization, it had very humble beginnings. Y-HEP’s founding director, Jacqui Ambrosini, started Y-HEP in the basement of her Philadelphia apartment in the spring of 1995.
“I wanted to create a place where young people could interact with other youth who were from different backgrounds — race, class, sexual orientation — so they could learn about each other and become critical thinkers, develop leadership skills, get exposed to new ideas and experiences and have an opportunity to grow,” Ambrosini said.
And grow it did. Y-HEP soon found itself supporting a large number of at-risk Philadelphia youth.
“They always needed information and resources and a place to be themselves. Over time, we were able to expand our services by adding a drop-in center, activities, counseling, case management and a family-planning clinic,” said Ambrosini.
Services offered at Y-HEP include: rapid HIV testing, a health and wellness program for young men who have sex with men, a computer lab that offers job search and résumé assistance, hot meals five days of the week and a health center that provides primary care. If a youth doesn’t have health insurance, the health center has a full-time benefits coordinator to assist them in getting health insurance in no time.
Y-HEP doesn’t change youth, but meets them where they are and provides participants the knowledge and skills to make positive decisions about their futures.
Y-HEP director Tiffany Thompson has been a part of the organization for five years. She said she joined because she “wanted to help folks that were more like me growing up, who I could have easily been.”
“Y-HEP to me is a place like no other, where you can see smiles, tears and anger in one place,” she added. “It’s the place [YHEP youth] feel safest to express themselves.”
Since her time began at Y-HEP, Thompson has seen a great deal of change.
“I saw Y-HEP go from being a room in a building to a holistic program that has so many services and does so many things.”
Two decades of service, activism and education were celebrated when Y-HEP staff members and supporters gathered at the Moore College of Art and Design to honor the work of Ambrosini and Y-HEP’s accomplishments.
The ’90s theme was carried throughout the party. Highlights included a photo booth with classic ’90s memorabilia for props, specialty cocktails such as “Nothin’ But A G-Thang” and an impromptu break-dance battle as legendary DJ Spinderella played the top hip-hop jams from the era.
With 20 years under its belt, Y-HEP and its staff have accomplished great things, but Thompson knows their work is far from over.
“Our goal is to see the end of the AIDS epidemic, that’s the mission always,” she said. And it’s a mission that Y-HEP is furthering with the introduction of the Y-HEP Health Center’s PrEP program. “With PrEP, we’re one of the only places in the city doing this and doing it so well. In 20 years, I think that we will be the experts. I’d love to see [the PrEP program] grow and for Y-HEP to play a role in ending the AIDS epidemic.”
Given Y-HEP’s knack for growth and expansion, Thompson’s plans for the future are sure to come true.
“It’s the hardest job, but it’s also the best job in the world.”
Abe Myrick is a Philly native, music lover and member of Y-HEP’s volunteer program.