The rebranding of the SONYC after school program and the Workforce Connect initiatives included the creation of logo identities, branding guidelines, marketing collateral, and brand identity systems; as well as a multi-agency coordination of the roll out and an advertising campaign to launch the new brands.

The SONYC after school program served as a national model for after school programs. The rebrand created exceptional buy-in with the middle school youth as they entered their most pivotal years. Using diverse images representing the community from which the youth live and learn was a key factor in creating exciting graphics marketing after school programs. The program gained a retention of youth that exceeded expectations and increased social competence, communication skills, and problem-solving skills.

Rebrand of the NYC Mayor’s Youth Leadership Council • This identity is the direct outcome of spending several weeknights over the course of a semester mentoring the youth in the council to develop this brand. The young folks included this logo on policy documents and presentations presented to the City Council of New York, as well as apparel and digital media campaigns.

Step It Up NYC, showcases the power and influence of youth voice, and the visual graphics successfully recruited teens throughout NYC to compete for cash prizes. The identity design, social media marketing, online engagement, and event graphics were modified each year to represent the new theme. DYCD also hosted COMPASS Recipe Rescue annually, in which K-12 youth promoted healthy eating and cooking skills by taking their favorite recipes and “rescuing” them by preparing a healthier version. The young chefs all walked away with chef swag as well as medals and full bellies. The DYCD Performance festival is another favorite project that I art directed which involved youth voice. It showcased their views on peace through performance and used real-life issues such as teen gun violence, bullying, intolerance and inclusion as inspiration.

During the pandemic, DYCD’s programs went virtual. A new initiative sprouted from this period in which NYC teens (with my guidance) created an online forum to promote civic engagement. The NYC Youth Agenda was born! A series of bi-weekly town halls were held online where teens had a safe space to discuss such topics as systemic racism, mental health, and equity and education. This culminated with a Mayoral Town Hall where candidates running for NYC Mayor were encouraged to attend and to respond to the Youth Agenda.