Our History

Allen Dwight Ayers, Jr. - Founder

March 5, 1942 – August 8, 2021

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The Youth Community Outreach Program (Y-COP) was founded in 1990 by Allen Ayers, former Detective of the Mount Vernon Police Department. His goal was to foster a positive relationship between youth and police by offering positive activities that build children’s self-esteem. After much success, Y-COP was incorporated as a municipal non-profit 501(c)(3) agency. Y-COP programs included a competitive cheerleading squad, basketball league, job skill workshops, peer-to-peer mediation, and college preparation, to name a few. Youth who have participated in Y-COP have pursued a college education, and have careers in education, government, law enforcement, and more.

As the Community Affairs and Crime Prevention Officer with the MVPD, he was very much interested in establishing a closer relationship with Mount Vernon’s Finest and the youth in the community, so he created the “COP – ADOPT” Program, where fellow officers would adopt a playground throughout the City.

In response to the increase in car thefts in the late 80s and early 90s, Mr. Ayers created the C.A.T. program in which residents gave the MVPD authorization to stop their cars during the late evening hours if they weren’t driving them. In 1990, he started the Youth Community Outreach program (Y-COP).

Outside of Y-COP...

Mr. Ayers was a resident of Mount Vernon, NY, an advocate for youth, a mentor, a positive role model to hundreds of boys, girls, men, and women in the community, and a proud husband, father, and grandfather.

Always searching for solutions to improve his community, he was inspired by the Million Man March in 1995. As a result, he and several other men in the community created UJIMA (LOC) Local Organizing Committee. Ujima is one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, which is recognized every year (December 26th – January 1st) and means “To build and maintain our community together and make our brother’s and sister’s problems our problems and to solve them together.”

The Ujima (LOC) group eventually evolved into the African Brotherhood, a grassroots organization designed to bring about cultural awareness in the community.

Allen also played an essential role in the Mount Vernon Boxing Club through the Mount Vernon Recreation Department at the Doles Community Center.

After Detective Ayers’s retirement, lack of space to offer youth programs, and dwindling support within the City, Y-COP went into hiatus for several long years. In 2011, Mr. Ayers reached out to his longtime friend, Henry Wilson, about taking over the helm of the Youth Community Outreach Program (Y-COP).