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Community Matters: YouthWorks
Melynn Schuyler, YouthWorks
Wednesday, October 18, 2023

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In this episode of Community Matters, Sandra Session-Robertson speaks with Melynn Schuyler, Founder and Executive Director of YouthWorks, a community-based nonprofit that helps local youth develop leadership and life skills through access to access to education, training, and work opportunities.

Melynn Schuyler is the Founder and Executive Director of YouthWorks. Originally from the state of Washington, Melynn fell in love with New Mexico while conducting field workas an undergraduate. Melynn earned her BA in International Relations from Boston University and her MA in Marriage, Family, and Child Therapy from the Phillips Graduate Institute in Los Angeles and has been a licensed counselor in the state ofNew Mexico since 1994. Melynn has three sons, all born and raised in Santa Fe.
Melynn’s vision as founder of YouthWorks was and still is supported by the voices and needs of local youth and young adults who are searching for meaning, connection and pathways to successful lives. YouthWorks was created as a community-based organization to connect Opportunity Youth in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico to paid work-based learning, life skills training, community improvement projects, alternative education instruction, case management and counseling and career and college placement. Having created a caring, open-door youth-serving organization with wrap-around services, Melynn has elevated YouthWorks into a critical community resource that is agile, creative nonprofit that addresses equity and social justice through an evolution of initiatives that are entrepreneurial, collaborative, replicable and sustainable.
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About Community Matters
Our monthly radio show invites subject experts and community leaders to talk about the challenges and inequities our region faces and possible solutions that could contribute to its growth. Hosted by Santa Fe Community Foundation staff, Community Matters airs on the third Wednesday of every month at 6:00 PM on KSFR (101.1 FM). Listen to past episodes here.
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