¡YouthWorks! Staff
Melynn Schuyler, Executive Director M.A., LPC, is a NM Licensed Professional Counselor. She received her Master of Arts in Marriage, Family, and Child Therapy from the California Family Study Center in 1993, after earning a BA from Boston University in 1988. In 2001, she developed and founded ¡YouthWorks! to serve youth and families in the areas of emotional support, Life Skills, violence prevention, substance abuse prevention, and youth job skill training and employment. She furthermore, developed the Santa Fe Youth Corps within ¡YouthWorks! to address the critical need among high-risk youth to transition into productive and sustainable roles in adulthood. She provides supervised and paid employment and hands on training particularly in the areas of river restoration, city park maintenance, and community housing maintenance. Ms. Schuyler developed and oversees the on-site facility for daily GED training for high-risk youth. She is responsible for fiscal development, budget management, program development, contract negotiation and management, staffing coordination, and fundraising.
Jaime O'Neill, Bookkeeper/Job Developer, has the unique experience of business and providing direct services to high-risk youth. Mr. O'Neill is a thirty-year resident of Santa Fe with a rich history of local business practices and business owners. Mr. O'Neill is responsible for managing all of ¡Youthworks! daily financial transactions, reimbursements, grant reporting, and contracts. He works closely with the certified public accountant to manage all accounts. Mr. O'Neill works closely with potential customers to determine the scope of the project and prepare the contract bid.
Vincent Tapia, Youth Development Coordinator, has been with ¡Youthworks! since 2001. Mr. Tapia joined ¡Youthworks! as a Youth Corps Crew Supervisor but because of his motivation and strong leadership skills, he quickly grew into his role as a Youth Development Coordinator. Before ¡Youthworks!, he served as a Youth Team Leader for Intercultural Leadership. He also has experience working as a Mediator for the New Mexico Center for Dispute Resolution and as a Youth Program Intervention and Prevention Facilitator for the Life Center for Youth and Adults. At ¡Youthworks!, Mr. Tapia coordinates all logistics, planning, and daily supervision of high-risk youth participants in job-training programs. He is responsible for hiring, training, supervising and evaluating all youth employees placed on paid youth job corps programs. He coordinates with local partnering agencies and governmental offices, advises the Regional Juvenile Justice Board on policy, and serves on a task force for appropriate local youth intervention strategies. In his capacity as Youth Development Coordinator, Mr. Tapia also provides school-based mediation and gender-specific support group services.
Tobe Bott-Lyons, Educational Coordinator, is licensed in New Mexico as a Secondary & Special Educator and has taught severely emotionally disturbed middle and high school students at the Santa Fe Public Schools. He graduated from Santa Fe High School and went on to earn a BA in Cultural Studies and Education at the New School for Social Research in New York. He has extensive experience with at risk youth through his employment at the Santa Fe La Otra Puerta Youth Shelter, where he provided supervision, support, life skills, crisis intervention and advocacy for homeless, run-away, adjudicated and other "at-risk" youth and received formal training in managing aggressive behavior and crisis intervention. At ¡Youthworks!, Mr. Bott-Lyons works with youth to identify and pursue their educational goals. He has assisted with the development and implementation of Pre-employment/Workforce Development, Youth Leadership Development, GED Prep and Basic Literacy, Life Skills, Community Leadership and Peer Education, Gang and Violence Prevention, Case Management and Advocacy, and Service Learning and School Reform initiatives.
Felina Rodriguez, Operations Director/Job Developer, is extremely excited to have recently joined ¡YOUTHWORKS!. Ms. Rodriguez has extensive experience working with at-risk youth and assisting them with job placement. In the past, she was employed as a High School Truancy Specialist for the Santa Fe Public Schools and as an Administrative Assistant for the New Mexico State Police. She also has experience working as a mentor and tutor for the Santa Fe Community Gear Up program. She holds an Associate of Arts in Early Childhood Education from the Santa Fe Community College. At ¡Youthworks!, Ms. Rodriguez coordinates daily activities and performs administrative duties for ¡Youthworks!. She assists ¡Youthworks! participants in developing career plans, resumes, securing full-time employment following graduation from employment program, providing graduated support services for youth in outside job placement. She directs GED participation, coursework and student records for over 100 youth per year.