A Christian "Young Voyce" Gives Back

Photo credit: A&T Register Clockwise, from left, Saddi Williams, James McClelland, Joseph Rhinehart, Darrell Edmonds and Iris Saunders began the non-profit organization Young Voyce.

Two North Carolina A&T students, committing to community service, are co-founders of a youth-focused, Christian-based nonprofit organization that provides a scholarship to a deserving high school graduate.

The result of a high-school class project, Young Voyce was established to appeal to youth in the Washington metro area. Its scholarship goes to a graduate of Washington's Dunbar Pre-Engineering High School each year.

Young Voyce was founded by James McClelland and Darrell Edmonds and their high school classmates Saddi Williams, Iris Saunders and Joseph Rhinehart in the summer of 2002.

"For a group project, we had to create a magazine, and we chose to do a Christian magazine," Edmonds said. That project never came to fruition, but "Later down the line, we figured we had a strong passion for youth, so we wanted to basically come up with an organization to help the youth out in the inner city and Washington metropolitan area. So, the concept we developed was our motto, which is to educate, empower, encourage and excite the youth from an academic, professional and spiritual standpoint."

The name of the organization came from the group's desire to demonstrate their individual differences and simultaneously express their collective uniqueness.

"With Young Voyce, we decided that we wanted to basically educate, empower and encourage. In other words, we wanted to give the youth a voice and the 'y' (in Voyce) is just to show the uniqueness in our organization," McClelland said.

Edmonds said the organization has grown tremendously over the last three years.

"From learning all the logistics of how to start a nonprofit organization, we've gone through a lot of governmental documents as far as trying to get incorporated. We've grown from the aspect of hosting more events; we initially started out just hosting one event called College Life Seminar and we give a $500 scholarship back to our high school. So, we've grown tremendously in learning the business side, as well as enhancing various programs, and workshops that we host," he said.

Edmonds and McClelland say they believe Young Voyce will continue to be successful.

Since the start of the program, "we've had churches and schools asking us to come in and give presentation(s) to students at these prospective schools" and churches. We're also in the works of increasing our scholarship totals to give back to our high school; we're trying to give a scholarship" to a student in "the total Washington, D.C., area instead of just our alma mater," McClelland said.

Companies have approached the organization about possible sponsorship of the scholarships, which now are financed out of pocket by members, and other collaboration, such as sponsoring seminars.

"We've had companies such as HP, Pizza Hut, Subway, CDW-G -- we've had all these different companies who have called us and asked to sponsor our various events. So, we can see that Young Voyce is steadily gaining popularity, and as we continue to do these programs and continue to put out that positive light . . . more companies will be willing to invest in us and our company will grow and grow," McClelland said.

Young Voyce's founders say they intend to take the program national. McClelland said that he and the other founders would like to see the program grow and expand from the confines of the Washington area to other parts of the country. Although the program is founded on Christian values, it is open to members of any religion, they said.

"A lot of kids can really relate (to what we share with them) because we are not much older than they are," Edmonds said. McClelland said the organization has supplemented what he missed in his formative years of childhood.

"Just from joining this group, doing that project, and later on becoming an organization, they have helped me to grow as a person. They encouraged me to do the right things to better myself, and to look for ways to better myself. So, I would definitely say I've grown as a person just from interacting with the co-founders," he said.

Edmonds said, "It has kind of made me a more diverse person from the business aspect, with me being an engineering major. So, when I do go get various internships or jobs, I can say I'm an engineering major and I am a co-founder of a nonprofit organization. So, it makes me a lot more marketable."

"I have a strong passion for helping individuals, especially young people," McClelland said, "and so, the different programs and giving back the scholarship and just seeing the effects we have on the youth in our Washington, D.C., area—that just makes me feel like I've done my job. If I can reach one, then I'm satisfied. So, the joy you get from helping out young people is immeasurable."

Michele Matthews, a student at North Carolina A&T University, writes for the A&T Register.

Posted Dec. 21, 2005