Featuring Gary Ivory, President and CEO of Youth Advocacy Programs
Gary Ivory is a leader who ministers through his life serving others, seeking not to change young people’s behaviors but their biographies. Led by his faith and lessons learned throughout his life, Ivory finds ways to impact people’s lives everywhere he goes.
Coming from a background where poverty was a highlight, Ivory saw the hardships of life in different ways. Knowing what it is like to work for a meal to seeing three of his siblings be part of the penitentiary system. From an early age, he understood the different complications the youth faced personally, communally and even within the society as a whole.
Even walking through the different battles that were presented to him, he was able to find solace in the Spring Hill Missionary Baptist church, where he was able not only to support himself and his faith but start a life of ministry that characterizes his lifestyle and core values. Part of his ministry consisted of being a chaplain in hospice care and in a maximum-security prison, tied to his desire to serve God by serving the people in some unconventional ways.
In 1992 he started his career at Youth Advocacy Programs (YAP) after graduating from the Princeton Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity. Although YAP is not a faith-based organization, Ivory has learned to serve in his ministry through the work that he does. His belief that everyone benefits from the good future of the youth has led him to form partnerships and connections across the United States, Sierra Leone and Australia. Helping around 20,000 families a year, Ivory is a great impact for those who are facing the same challenges he did when he was younger. His life has been an example to those wanting to change their own lives and the ones who want to help others have a greater future.
His position is not just about advocacy and influence, but of relationship building and the creation of better opportunities for the youth, their families and their communities.