Another Choice Youth and Family Outreach

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Another Choice Youth and Family Outreach, (ACYFO) is an East Harlem based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing access to supportive services for local youth and families, especially citizens returning from incarceration. We use strategic arts engagement as a tool to engage the East Harlem community to disrupt violence, and promote public safety. 

In addition to providing professional development and artistic literacy courses, we operate a food pantry program to address food insecurity in our community. We take a holistic approach to facilitating referrals and service delivery, ensuring that community members have access to a diverse catalog of local resources. 

We execute our mission through three key components:

Research and advocacy

In order to foster informed solutions in East Harlem to offset poverty and incarceration we conduct community- centered research with youth and adult participants. The information gathered is directly useful to impacted individuals, their communities, policy makers, academic institutions, nonprofits and beyond. 

Building relationships

We form relationships to build our individual and collective capacity to be change agents.

ACYFO is a safe space for community members to seek direct and referral social-psychological support. We have ordained ministers and licensed social workers with lived-experience on call to support community members with mental wellness coaching, individualized mentorship, and referrals for mental health services. 

Galvanizing and mobilizing people

We execute our mission by forming strategic collaborations enabling multi-dimensional advocacy and educational strategies. We believe that there is strength in numbers. Since 2021 we've brought community stakeholders together for community symposiums and discussions about fostering and implementing community-based solutions to promoting public safety and reducing  poverty in our communities.