During 2018 we will be featuring 2017 YNPN LR 20 over 20 award recipients. Check this page and our facebook to learn more about these sector leaders. 

2017 - 20 over 20 award recipients

Jonathan Wallace 

Jonathan works as a Program Manager with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation where he champions healthy out-of-school time across the state and region.  Since 2013, he has provided training and technical assistance to more than 80 youth-serving programs to create and sustain healthy environments for kids. Jonathan also works with Arkansas State University – Division of Childhood Services as a trainer and consultant, supporting out-of-school time programs to improve quality and program effectiveness.

Prior to this, he worked with a variety of organizations, including Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, American Red Cross, and  City Year, focusing on areas such as volunteer recruitment, retention, training, leadership development, and civic engagement.   Jonathan is a proud AmeriCorps Alumnus, serving in 2005-2006 with the American Red Cross in Dallas through the Hurricane Katrina response.   

For ten years, Jonathan served in AmeriCorps Alums chapter leadership, supporting chapters in Little Rock and Dallas/Fort Worth.  He currently serves as an advisory board member for servce2perform, and as a founding board member for the Arkansas Wilderness Ministry.  

Jonathan received a Bachelor’s of Arts in Sociology from Columbia College.  He lives in Bryant with his family and can often be found hiking the great trails of Arkansas.   

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Joyvin Benton 

Joyvin Benton is the Development Director at the Arkansas Public Policy Panel where she creates and implements all fundraising efforts from large grants to grassroots donations to events. She has a passion for youth advocacy and educational justice. This passion was stoked in the 6th grade when she and her twin sister led a petition and sit-in to protest girl’s not being allowed to play on the basketball court during recess.

After finishing her Master’s degree in Social Psychology from San Diego State University, she became the director of an academic enrichment program for high school students, the W.E.B. Dubois Scholars Institute, at Princeton University. Here she honed her skills in all aspects of nonprofit management and learned about youth enrichment programming. She truly enjoyed working with the youth and helping them gain skills that would change their lives forever. This experience led her to pursue a Ph.D. in Education Policy at Rutgers University to better understand what factors contribute to academic success. Her Ph.D. allowed her to learn how other policy areas such as health and environment affect the educational attainment of youth. She enjoys being the Development Director at the Panel because it allows her to use her education, skills, and knowledge to promote policies that benefit Arkansans and make our state better for everyone.

She enjoys spending time with her husband, Reushon and her rambunctious dog, Matt.

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Michelle Barnes 

Michelle is a native of Strong, Arkansas. She is the founder and executive director of Real Images, Inc., which has a mission to uplift women and young girls to recognize and utilize their unique and true beauty to be great role models in their communities. Michelle founded this organization because she believed that if women of different backgrounds could get together in one room to discuss the tie that binds all women, magic would happen. Three years and multiple events later, Real Images is becoming celebrated in Central Arkansas as a connector for women to be more inspired and powerful as ever. Michelle was also recognized this year by the Chi Eta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority as a nominee for a “Brown Girls Rock” award in the area of Public Service.

Michelle is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and holds a Bachelor of Sociology and Masters of Public Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

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Jordan Rogers

Jordan is an attorney who joined the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission in September of 2016 as Program Coordinator. His work at the Commission is focused on promoting awareness and use of limited scope representation, providing resources to encourage attorneys to practice in rural Arkansas, and increasing participation in the pro bono and modest means panels of Arkansas’s legal aid providers.

Prior to joining the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission, Jordan served as a Justice for Arkansans Legal Fellow with the Center for Arkansas Legal Services. In this position, he represented clients in a variety of housing cases and other civil cases. He also presented legal education events across Central and Southeast Arkansas to inform low-income and vulnerable populations of their legal rights. Jordan’s professional experience has also included providing training on expungements and organizing expungement clinics.

He is an active YNPN Little Rock member and recently joined the YNPN LR Board of Directors as the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Chair. 

Jordan is a native Arkansan and enjoys hiking, camping, and kayaking throughout the Natural State.

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Mandy Davis 

Mandy Davis joined Depaul USA in May 2015 as a social worker at the Jericho Way Day Resource Center. She worked under the leadership of Sister Elizabeth for more than a year before being asked to be Jericho Way’s director. Jericho Way is the newest project of Depaul USA, which is a national non-profit that serves those experiencing homelessness. Jericho Way is Little Rock’s only day resource center for those experiencing homelessness

Mandy, began her career in Little Rock, AR. She received her undergraduate degree in Social Work from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2012. She was voted BSW Student of the Year by the AR Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. Mandy served on the AR Chapter’s board and is a standing member of the association. Mandy graduated from the Advanced Standing Graduate School of Social Work program at UALR in 2015.

Mandy’s focus has been aligning her personal and professional values and matching those to an organization that upholds those same values. She found a home at Depaul USA and couldn’t be happier serving those in Little Rock who are experiencing homelessness. She’s been a field instructor to several UALR interns, even assisting Clinton School students with their capstone projects. Recently she was awarded the “Pay it Forward Award” by KARK 4 for her work supporting Jericho Way staff while showing hospitality to her homeless neighbors.

She is married with two children and enjoys spending time with her family. Her husband, Eddie Davis, is an administrator at CHI St. Vincent. Sophie recently turned five and Teddy is ten months. Mandy loves to volunteer with her five-year-old serving meals. She enjoys the Bernice Garden Farmer’s Market to eat and buy local.  

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The first annual YNPN LR 20 over 20 awards were created to celebrate the accomplishments of nonprofit professionals over the age of 20 and establish them as the sector’s emerging or current leaders.

YNPN LR 20 over 20 award winners were announced at YNPN Little Rock’s CEO Talk Show on October 5th. The CEO Talk Show is an annual event, to which all nominees were invited.

2017 20 Over 20 Award Recipients:

Derrick Rainey
Hannah Vogler
Casey Carter
Ben Goodwin
Bailey Gambill
Ginny Blankenship
Jordan Rogers
Katherine Dailey
Joyvin Benton
Nia Ahmad
Chris Morgan
Justin Burch
Michelle Barnes
Eddie Davis
Alina Kelley
Kathryn Rogers
Lindsay Brown
Nathan Keltch
Kelsie Hammons
Jonathan Wallace
Mandy Davis

CONFIDENTIALITY

The YNPN LR ‘20 over 20’ review committee will maintain the strictest confidentiality possible for all sensitive details provided. Nomination forms will not be publicized. Upon the selection of Award Winners, only the candidates’ names, titles, photograph and submitted biography will be publicized.

Questions? Contact Miranda - mdeaton@ynpnlr.org