Young Visionaries founder Terrence Stone highlights 25 years of youth programs, says group has reached 'over 200,000' young people

Terrence Stone, CEO and founder of the nonprofit Young Visionaries, described the group’s 25-year evolution during a radio interview on Empire Talks Back, saying the program now includes mentoring, mental-health services, violence-intervention work and workforce training across the Inland Empire.

“Young Visionaries, I started Young Visionaries 25 years ago, just on a dream,” Stone said. He told host Wallace Allen the organization now operates “4 solid locations throughout, the Inland Empire,” and has worked with “over 200,000 kids” during that time.

Stone outlined the nonprofit’s core programs. The SMART program (Successfully Motivating African Americans through Resiliency Training) is a mental-health contract the group holds with the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health, in place since 2013, intended to provide culturally focused therapy and mental-health education. Stone said the group also runs a VIP (violence intervention/prevention) outreach unit that conducts community engagement in high-crime neighborhoods and a workforce-development track that offers job skills such as supply-chain logistics, security guard training and a food-handler certification.

On outcomes, Stone estimated a high placement rate for program graduates who pursue employment after training: “If we’re talking percentages, we’re probably in a 85 or so percentile of getting people through the program and getting them employed,” he said. He described a small entrepreneurial arm — a medical-billing office tied to efforts to bill Medi-Cal — that Stone said creates paid staff positions; he said that office currently employs five people.

Stone described recurring community events that anchor his outreach work: a Harvest Fest in mid-October, an annual backpack distribution supported by the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools (about 2,000 backpacks), a Thanksgiving turkey giveaway that serves roughly 1,500 families, and a Winter Wonderland event held downtown with partners including Chic Shoes and Amazon.

To recruit volunteers and donations, Stone pointed listeners to Young Visionaries’ website (www.yvyla-ie.org) and said the group uses Eventbrite and Constant Contact to organize participants; he said the organization’s contact lists number in the tens of thousands across platforms.

Stone also highlighted arts programming, including improv and small-scale commercial and video production involving youth, and described a recent hire who had been a program participant and later enrolled at Cal State San Bernardino as an example of long-term impact. Wallace Allen closed the interview by thanking Stone and encouraging listeners to support the nonprofit.

The organization’s next public event, Stone said, is the Harvest Fest in mid-October; he invited volunteers and donors to sign up online.