Trayvond Jacobs

CEO and Co-Founder Trayvond Jacobs, has spent more than 20 years in the non-profit sector, aligning his personal purpose with his profession. His passion for youth and teen development, program creation, and engaging communities to address local issues facing the underserved, led him to

co-founding Youth Achievers Foundation.

 

Before launching Youth Achievers Foundation, Trayvond was a senior staff member that produced non-profit programming and staff development in different states. He served as the Executive Director of the Emerson Family YMCA in the North County area of St. Louis for 4 years. His career started by working with youth and teens as a program director for the YMCA in Los Angeles.  Over the course of two decades he refined his skills by creating youth development programs, leading diversity workshops, and serving as a peer educator for the YMCA and other non-profits alike. Trayvond and his team also created one of the largest teen development and camping programs in California at the Gardena-Carson Family YMCA before moving to St. Louis.

 

A South Central, Los Angeles native, and recipient of public school education, Trayvond understands the need for community based non-profit presence and programming. His goal for Youth Achievers Foundation is to become a leading non-profit, empowering underserved youth and teens in greater St. Louis and surrounding areas.

 

 

 

 

 

Jamell Jacobs, M.Ed., NCC, PLPC

COO and Co-Founder Jamell Jacobs, has been the owner/operator of Dance Plus dance studio in Florissant, Missouri since 2005.  Jamell attended Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville for her undergraduate work, and completed with a Bachelors of Science in Elementary Education, Minor in Dance, with a Psychology Area of Emphasis. She completed the graduate program at UMSL with a Masters in Education in Professional Counseling. Jamell is currently provisionally licensed as a Professional Counselor, as well as a Nationally Certified Counselor.  

 

Jamell began her twenty year teaching career in an elementary classroom and moved into the dance studio setting soon after.  In 2000, residing in Los Angeles, she helped to develop health and fitness programming for children and adults as the Healthy Lifestyles Director for the Metropolitan of Los Angeles YMCA, and also launched the branch youth dance program. Jamell has always valued the importance of overall health and wellness, and her career has offered her the opportunity to work with thousands of community members to aid in their efforts towards better health.  Her passions compel her to always be working with our youth, in some capacity, to help them better understand how to find their own balance, physically and mentally, in order to lead their most productive and successful life.