Nevada Youth Empowerment Project

It's Foster Care Awareness Month!

Here's what nobody tells you about turning 18 in foster care: you get a “congratulations” and a door. No map for housing. No guide for money. No one explains what overwhelm actually is, or why it makes decisions feel impossible.

That's not a personal failure, it's a sequencing problem. Nobody builds stability before independence.

NYEP built a free library for exactly this: housing, money, emotional regulation, goal-setting, even AI literacy. It's called Door 1, and it's free. Link in bio.

Nevada is 47th in child well-being. Last in youth mental health. Near last in education for over a decade. These numbers did not happen despite all the activity in this field. They happened alongside it. Convenings. Reports. Strategic plans. Summits. The rankings have not moved in any meaningful direction in nearly two decades. This week I wrote about what I am actually seeing, not as a critique of the people inside the system, but as an honest accounting of the pattern they are inside. If you work in Nevada youth services and you feel like nothing is actually changing, you are not imagining it. Here is what is actually happening, and why. Read the full article,
https://monicadupea.substack.com/p/if-you-work-in-nevada-youth-services
Structure builds what systems skip. | nyep.org

If you work in Nevada youth services and feel like nothing is actually changing, you are not imagining it. Nobody has moved the needle. Here is why. This is not a comfortable piece to write.

Nevada Youth Empowerment Project is looking for a church kitchen, community kitchen, or commercial kitchen space to support our youth-led baking fundraiser, Sweet Steps Forward 🧁💛

Sweet Steps Forward gives young women the chance to build real-life skills through baking, packaging, customer service, teamwork, responsibility, and fundraising 👩🏽‍🍳📦🤝✨

We are looking for a kitchen space that may be available for occasional use, possibly once or twice a month depending on orders and scheduling 📅🍴

A good kitchen space would include:

🍽️ Basic kitchen equipment
🧼 A clean and safe environment
🥣 Counter space for prepping and packaging
❄️ Refrigerator or storage space if available
📅 Flexible scheduling
🤝 Willingness to support a local nonprofit
💛 A heart for helping young women build life skills

We are open to churches, community centers, schools, restaurants during off-hours, shared kitchens, or other organizations with approved kitchen space 🏫⛪🍽️

This is a meaningful way to support local young women without needing to make a financial donation 🌱💛

NYEP can discuss scheduling, cleanliness expectations, supervision, and any reasonable kitchen-use fees or partnership details 📝✨

Please reply if you have kitchen space available or know someone who may be interested 🙏🍪💛

Nevada Youth Empowerment Project
Sweet Steps Forward 🍪✨