PYE is an outgrowth of Power of Hope: Youth Empowerment through the Arts, co-founded in 1996 in the Seattle area by Charlie Murphy and Peggy Taylor. They founded PYE in 2010 to take this model to more communities around the world.
Today, through a train-the-trainer model and with our circle of global partners, we train over 6,000 practitioners in 40+ countries annually. Through our online learning network, we regularly engage 5,000+ practitioners around the world with free resources and peer education opportunities. These practitioners, in turn, reach over 300,000 youth each year with programs that ignite purpose, power, and possibility in youth.
In all of our programs, we prioritize engaging diverse populations, with the end goal of reaching youth who are marginalized and furthest from opportunity.
The Creative Empowerment MODEL
All PYE programming is based in the Creative Empowerment Model (CEM); it is what sets us apart from other facilitation training programs. The CEM combines EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING, GROUP FACILITATION and ARTS-BASED PRACTICE into a framework for designing and leading transformative programs for youth and adults. Through program activities, participants develop self-confidence, motivation, social and emotional competence, and leadership – proven predictors of well-being. The resulting EMPOWERMENT provides participants the ability to imagine and enact the life one wants to lead.
Experential Learning
Arts-Based Practice
Leading Edge Facilitation
OUR APPROACH
We achieve exponential impact by working with individuals and organizations that work directly with youth. We engage with local organizations and schools who adapt and spread the Creative Empowerment Model in their own work. This leads to a multiplier effect that increases impact.
Our Values
Our Staff
Peggy Taylor
Peggy is a writer, musician, and creative development specialist with a passion for helping people connect with their innate creativity. Her Masters of Education in …
Helena Hennighausen
Helena is a chemical engineer turned social entrepreneur who brings over 15 years of experience developing and managing programs for volunteers, non-profits, and businesses. She …
Susan Janow
Susan has a passion for life-long learning. She is a dynamic organizer who supports our events, registrations, and communications to ensure that our trainings happen …
Donna Parsell
Donna is passionate about her community and has worked as a vounteer and staff member of several local organizations. She has experience in financial services …
Stephanie Turner
Stephanie is an interdisciplinary artist, performer and Creative Empowerment facilitator. She has over 10 years experience facilitating in a variety of settings in London, across …
Andrew Nalani
Andrew Nalani is passionate about the design and evaluation of transformative educational programs that promote positive development in youth and adults. He has been involved …
Bijah Spevakow
Bijah was born and raised in Vancouver B.C, on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples. She is a recent graduate …
Devon Little
Devon works as a facilitator, trainer and mediator guided by the values of community, social justice and dignity. She has designed, facilitated, and managed experiential-learning …
Dandelion Logo
The PYE logo is a dandelion; a fitting metaphor for our collective youth empowerment efforts. The dandelion represents resilience, strength, healing and youthful joy. What’s more, each seed has the ability to create a whole new field of dandelions that can grow anywhere, even in the most difficult conditions.
Our Company Name
Our name is Partners for Youth Empowerment, or PYE for short, pronounced as ‘pie’, like apple pie. PYE was formally known as PYE Global and was rebranded to Partners for Youth Empowerment in 2018.