Who We Are
Partners for Youth with Disabilities (PYD) was founded in 1985 by Regina Snowden as a one-to-one mentoring program for youth with disabilities. At the time, mentoring was gaining prominence as a key intervention for bolstering life outcomes in at-risk youth, yet youth with disabilities were being systemically excluded from ongoing programs. In PYD’s first year, Regina matched 9 youth with disabilities with adults with a similar disability-and the demand for PYD’s services skyrocketed from there. Over the intervening 33 years, PYD has grown from this humble beginning to an array of award-winning programs that serves over 400 youth with disabilities and trains over 1,200 youth workers every year. We now run programs focusing on one-to-one, group, and online mentoring; theater arts; and job readiness training. We also provide youth workers and organizations across the country with training on how to be more inclusive of youth with disabilities, and advocate for disability mentoring and inclusion on a national scale.
What We Do
PYD's goal is to create a world where young people with disabilities will be able to live with dignity and pride in who they are, and to lead self-determined lives filled with purpose. To make this happen, we build the skills and abilities of young people with disabilities, and increase the inclusivity of workplaces, organizations, and communities. We do this by offering free services and programs, such as One-to-one Mentoring, our Career Readiness and Access to Theater programs, and our Online Mentoring platform.
