About

Youth Achievement of America, Inc. is a youth program founded in June of 1992 in Kalamazoo, Michigan (then it was originally known as Great Lakes Youth Achievement). In April of 1996 Youth Achievement of America expanded to the Columbus, Ohio area where our corporate office is now located.

Youth Achievement of America offers teens an opportunity to do something positive while learning important skills that will help them as they enter adulthood. Our program is structured in such a way to help keep teens out of trouble and away from drugs, gangs, alcohol and other negative influences. This teaches the teens, among other things, the importance of being responsible, hard work equals great rewards, improved self-worth, and good work skills. These skills will “help teens help themselves” by teaching them skills and abilities that they will need later in adult life and allow them to become a productive part of society.

Youth Achievement of America, Inc. is incorporated as a nonprofit corporation/organization in the State of Ohio.  Our Ohio registration number is 969979.  We are also registered with the Ohio Attorney General office. 

All funding for our program comes from the fundraising sales (see Fundraising) of our candy bars.  The focus of our program is to help teach teens that hard work equals great rewards (bonus trips, activities, prizes, etc.) through the sales of the fundraising candy bars throughout the year.  We do not accept donations as this would only detract from our main mission.

Y.A.A. is now in its 31st year of “Helping Teens Help Themselves!” and is still going strong. We will continue to update and improve our program and expand to other areas in Ohio. Thank you for your interest and support.