Our Journey of Empowerment

The Youth Elevation Project is a non-profit organization. Our goal is to empower the youth to elevate themselves to success.

Youth Elevation Project's story begins in 2010, when a youth aviation program founded by Kawana Shaw offered Philadelphia's youth a chance to earn their private pilot licenses at Spitfire Aerodrome. This program ran for two years, making a great impact on the students and paved the way for what the program is today.

In 2025, Kawana revived the Youth Elevation Project, with the intentions of offering more programs to help students build up real world skills to help in their futures. Expanding the program to new fields, she ensured it would help grant participants opportunities to discover new careers. Everyday, we continues to build on our foundations by providing creative, hands-on STEAM programs in local community spaces.

Youth Elevation Project has grown into a resource for children and teens ages 9 through 21 across Philadelphia, especially those from underserved communities. We ensure our programs provide a caring community with mentors who help to support and empower our students as they learn new skills and open new interests and career pathways.