NEW ORLEANS, LA — Nearly two decades ago, a social entrepreneur began his first project, conducting tutoring sessions in the garage of his parents’ home in east New Orleans.  This young boy, who grew up in the St. Bernard housing projects, was twelve-year-old Kyshun Webster. 

“I recognized the need to address the retention rate among my peers,” Webster said. This philanthropic spirit has followed him to this day and explains why he has spent the great majority of his life mentoring youth and cultivating their ideas for social reform and civic engagement.
Today, Dr. Kyshun Webster is the 31 year-old CEO of Operation REACH.  Operation REACH is a non-profit organization that assists schools, foundations, and community activists with technical management tools and proven educational enhancement programs.  Webster said the program will foster socially innovative ideas and commercialize them to keep the center going.

“It is impressive for anybody to start an afterschool program at age 12, much less a young man who may not have been born with access to all of the traditional resources to do that sort of thing such as family wealth, etc... but if anybody would do it, it is Kyshun,” said Dr. Hamilton Simons-Jones, chief development officer for the Office of Resource & Social Enterprise Development.

“Kyshun is not afraid to dream. His success, even at that early of age, I think, is a combination of his brilliant planning and willingness to be bold.”
 
“Dr. Webster brings a clarity and objectiveness to situations that is unmatched. He brings a broad and deep knowledge of the field of community education, including research and
national best practices. He brings a deep commitment to youth and social justice and ensuring that children and family who may be from poor backgrounds have access to quality education and opportunities to have their voices heard and respected as citizens of their communities,” Jones added.

On July 21, 2008, Webster announced that the organization had been awarded a $1 million grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service to expand its Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps.  He unveiled the new site of Operation REACH Headquarters located at 1700 Josephine Street in uptown New Orleans.

“The mission of the program is to engage, empower, and inspire youth,” Webster said. 

Following Katrina, Webster and an affiliated company conducted research to find out what young people had to say about Katrina recovery efforts.  Webster said the number one question they asked was “what can I do?”  Operation REACH partnered with students from Xavier, Tulane, and other national universities to hold summer camps that would allow young people to talk about and engage in recovery efforts.  The programs focused on social justice, youth empowerment, community diversity, and service-learning. 

“Although our program grew from Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, the goal was to cultivate social youth development and engagement for the long-term,” said Webster.

“The spirit of civic engagement is at its all-time high.”

The Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps camps are one of the many efforts initiated by Operation REACH to promote youth engagement in the community.  The camps, which teach young people philanthropic skills, range from six to eight weeks.  Throughout the school year, some of the campers continue to learn about philanthropy through the Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund. There are thirty middle-school and high-school students who comprise the Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund’s Youth Advisory Board.  The youth advisory board members are nominated by community organizations and must successfully complete an in-depth panel interview.
 
Youth who seek funding for their ideas on how to improve the community can apply for a grant funded by The Gulfsouth Youth Action Fund (GYAF).  Because of the generous donation of $50,000 in grants contributed by the Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF), the youth advisory board members are able to review grant proposals and allocate funds to those selected. Grants range between $500 and $5000.  

“It would’ve really helped if I could’ve gone to the Gulf South Youth Action Corp with my idea when I was tutoring from my parent’s garage at twelve-years-old.  There are many kids with socially innovative ideas and often times we tell them they just have to wait…wait…wait,” Webster said.   He hopes the grants will prevent the prolonging of socially innovative ideas and allow for their immediate implementation.

The Gulfsouth Youth Action Corp (add s) plans to expand to Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi.  Operation REACH is currently negotiating collaborations with the University of Houston, Miles College, and the Pritchard Alabama Public Housing Authority.

The first floor of the two-story building, that now houses Operation REACH headquarters, will provide daycare services.  Webster said the organization received a $20,000 check from a private donor requesting that the money be used for daycare.  Webster said his organization plans to honor that request by providing daycare services, including a kitchen and sick-room.  Windham Hotel employees have signed up to be among the first to utilize the daycare center. 

The second floor will host corporate offices, a conference meeting room, break room, the Office of Development and Social Enterprise, and a multipurpose training room for other non-profit organizations.  Renovations are set to begin within the next two weeks.  All renovations are expected to be complete by the end of this year.

“In five years, I see Operation REACH as a well established national organization with a presence in all of the regions of the United States, if not all of the states. While its corporate headquarters and base will remain in the South, it will be recognized and known as the premiere non-profit organization focusing on promoting youth leadership and shifting the paradigm of youth work from youth-serving to youth-driven and
youth-led. We will have a strong cadre of alumni of our programs and staff who will be continuing their incredible work, providing community-focused leadership that impacts peoples lives the way Operation REACH's programs did their own,” Jones said.

Candi Johnson is a master’s student in mass communication in the School of Mass Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern Mississippi. The After Katrina Newswire is a project of the School of Mass Communication and Journalism at USM (www.usm.edu/afterkatrina). This story can be reprinted with this credit included.