ESTABLISHED 2005 · MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
Safety is the start.
Freedom is the future.
Urban Youth Conservation is a Minneapolis-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2005. UYC provides community violence intervention, youth and family development, housing and support navigation, education and workforce pathways, and credible-messenger training.
THAT MOVE
PEOPLE FORWARD
WHY URBAN
We meet people where they are—and refuse to leave them there.
For more than 20 years, Urban Youth Conservation has helped connect community members to safety, opportunity and support. Our work is grounded in lived experience, accountability and the belief that every person deserves a future bigger than their hardest chapter.
URBAN YOUTH CONSERVATION · URBANYOUCONSERVATION
It started with youth.
It grew with you.
Young people became adults. Participants became parents, mentors, referrers and partners. UYC continued to serve the people around them—and many now help pour into others because someone first poured into them.
See how the story grewTHE SIGNATURE PROGRAM
SAFE. ALIVE. FREE.
INSTITUTE™
A relationship-based, six-month development experience for youth and adults, with a focused practitioner-training track.
Explore the Institute“People do not change because we handed them a program. They change when relationship, accountability and opportunity finally show up together.”
FEROME BROWN · FOUNDER & LEAD FACILITATOR
01UYC ARCHIVEUrban Youth Conservation steers young people from gang life
An early account of UYC’s gang-diversion work and the lived experience behind its approach.
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02UYC ARCHIVETrauma and crime: The hidden epidemic
Coverage of Ferome Brown, UYC and Project LIFE in community violence intervention.
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03UYC ARCHIVERenting can be tough for reformed gang members
Reporting on housing barriers, reentry and credible community support.
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04UYC ARCHIVEGVI Vanguard Award nomination
UYC’s archive records a nomination recognizing work beyond the call of duty in youth violence prevention.
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05UYC ARCHIVEMichelle A. Brown-Williams at NDSU
Lady Bug’s campus appearance connected Black Lives Matter with UYC’s 8:46 community-awareness work.
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