With Founder's Retirement, IYO Entering a New Era

Founded in 1970, the International Youth Organization (IYO), a nonprofit dedicated to helping the disadvantaged youth of Newark and its surrounding communities, is currently undergoing a metamorphosis.  After over 40 years of service, Carolyn Wallace, having served as both co-founder and executive director, has resigned, sending the organization into a new stage in its development.  The entity aims to continue to operate as a beacon of light for Newark’s disenfranchised youth, but it is shifting from a “mom and pop” approach  to becoming more of an institution.
 
The agency’s new corporate structure will bolster the operations by allowing it to qualify for even more grants available internationally, as opposed to strictly local-based funding. 

“That will open up new avenues of funding and opportunity to develop the kind of economic development that is needed in the community,” said Wallace.

Jacques Bougé, an immigrant from Haiti serving as Transitional Interim Executive Director and a long-time board member, said he was inspired by the organization’s mission and will be helping the agency to make a smooth transition.  He describes the role of the Board of Directors shifting from that of commitment to one of governance, taking on greater responsibility and making more decisions.  In response to the economic downturn, the organization has been exploring new avenues of support.

“In looking at the future we must engage new generating activities that will help support the mission of the agency,” explains Bougé.
 
Wallace and her late husband James Wallace began the IYO alongside 13 adolescents and parents who were seeking to create better opportunities within their community, but who lacked the necessary funding.  The group soon gained in popularity, outgrowing its first three locations and in 1977 acquiring five new buildings on South 12th Street, where it is based today.
 
Newark’s fire department director, Fateen Ziyad, served as a volunteer during the early days of the organization.  As a 17-year-old high school student, Ziyad was introduced to the group through his brother’s friend.  He says that James Wallace influenced him immensely and that his interaction with the IYO helped him to see his own life from a different perspective. 

Having grown up in a relatively middle class home, Ziyad says “Going from our family and going into that environment actually enlightened us and made us very grateful and thankful for who and what we had.”  Having lost his stepfather at the time,  Wallace also played an important part as a male role model Ziyad could look up to.
 
Ziyad took on a leadership role, spending time at the community center and helping kids with tutoring classes.  Ziyad continued volunteering at the center as a college student with the awareness that he was now setting a standard for his peers. 

“We wanted to let the kids know that if you came from urban Newark or urban America, that you could still succeed.” 

Later on, when Ziyad became fire director -- holding a position senior to James Wallace, who was also a member of the department -- Ziyad said Wallace couldn’t have been prouder.
 
 
The program today offers urban youth educational as well as volunteering opportunities, and they are also dedicated to local community service.  Over the years, the organization has gotten clearer on how to best reach and empower its constituents. 

When asked about the organization’s motto, “It's Attitude, Not Aptitude That Determines Altitude,” Mrs. Wallace explained that attitude is a determining factor in a person’s success. 

“After the first seven, eight, 10 years, we realized that people’s attitude determines what you’re going to do.  No matter where you are and what you have, if you decide that you’re going to be something and you make a commitment to that, your attitude will develop that.” 

The organization may be changing, but that uplifting message appears to ring just as true as ever.