Forty years ago, Youth Action YouthBuild (YAYB) changed the face of East Harlem by taking community activism to a whole new level. Enlisting the help of neighborhood youth who had had enough of the crime and neglect, local schoolteacher Dorothy Stoneman decided to take action and renovate the first of many condemned buildings — turning them into protected, low-income housing — giving those young adults the skills they needed to become leaders in their own community.
They didn’t ask. They acted!
This turned into an international movement that is still thriving today. And since it all started in our backyard, YAYB is celebrating our 40th anniversary all year long, with spectacular events.
