Given the disparities and challenges African Americans face in the areas of education, social awareness and political involvement, YAASPA has decided to take on the task of addressing these issues. 

YAASPA has developed programs that will enrich youth's pre-collegiate learning and experiences along with advancing the youth's social activism.  The combination of social and political activism, education, service learning and leadership based training lead to a heightened awareness of self, educational goals and social phenomena in our communities.

The enrollment rates for African Americans are on the rise, but this does not mean they are graduating at the rate of their peers. "The college graduation rate for Blacks is 43% and 63% for Whites (Journal for Blacks in Higher Education/US Department of Education)." This is a general statistic regarding Blacks in general, but males have been hit extremely hard as well. "The percentage of Black males enrolled in higher education went down from 43.8% in 1980 to 35.2% in 2007 (Journal for Blacks in Higher Education/US Department of Education)."

Too much time has passed for people to sit on this issue without progressive action. But, when activism within our communities is analyzed, it shows why the achievement gap is so great. "1.7 million college aged Black youth (43%) are not registered to vote (Fairvote2020.org 2008). Youth must begin advocating for themselves and their communities in order to facilitate change for themselves rather than waiting for others to do it for them. They must know that they are capable of grasping the attention of their peers, adults, legislatures and educators.

Research shows that there is a strong correlation between education and activism.  The more one is educated, the more likely he/she is to be actively engaged in their communities socially and politically.  "For Blacks with a college degree, the voter participation rate was 59.8 percent, more than double the rate of black high school dropouts" (The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education).

"We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends."

--Mary McLoed Bethune