25 in '25: Jo White and her mission to save the youth of Richmond

To watch Amber Cook-Sims describe Jo White is to see pure admiration unfold in real time. 

“I just love her. I love everything that she does for the youth, and not just for the youth, for me,” said Cook-Sims. “She's motivating me because I'm in college getting my bachelors in psychology, and her pushing me to do better and to strive, I just love her for that.”

Cook-Sims has known White since she was a teenager. That’s when Cook-Sims came to know both White and the organization she founded, called Saving Our Youth.

“I was actually in Saving Our Youth when I was 13 years old,” said Cook-Sims, who’s been working as a mentor there for four years. “So, Ms. Jo was my youth leader. Her positive attitude and her motherly instinct and how she just loves to help people. It's everything about her and just giving me the knowledge is what drew me to her.”

Now at 26, White is still helping Cook-Sims. 

“She's seen me become a mother for the first time,” said Cook-Sims. “I have a 1-year-old daughter, and her seeing me become a mom and being a better person, I'm just happy that she's been there for me this whole time.”

White received the nomination for The Richmonder’s 25 in '25 from another fan, Pam Brown, who wrote in part, “One neighborhood mom asked Jo to help her son who was falling behind in school and others soon wanted her help with their kids. Those that join learn lots of life skills as well as academic help and community involvement. Jo loves her kids and they know it.”

Saving Our Youth

White likes to say the nonprofit was “born in 2009.” Today the mission is to help young people make smart choices when it comes to time spent outside of school, and to get the tools necessary for after graduation, which could be helping them transition to college or taking up a trade or landing a job.

They do this through having onsite mentors, like Cook-Sims, and by having focused programs to make those transitions.

White said so far, almost 200 students have gone through the programs.

“Everybody that went through our program graduated except for one person,” she said. “And the only reason that one person didn't graduate, unfortunately, is because he got killed before he graduated.”

It was when White met co-founder Thomas Cox, who has since passed away, that Saving Our Youth took shape. White said Cox had recently been released from incarceration after 36 years and was giving lectures to both young people and adults about how to avoid the pitfalls that landed him in prison. 

“I rented him a room in one of my houses, and my office was downstairs,” said White, after seeing him speak. “And I just started thinking, you know, he's really doing something good. I really want to do something good, too.”

That something good led to them opening up the nonprofit, which actually had a different name. 

“We started as Save the Children, until we found out that that name was patented. So, we had to change it to Saving Our Youth,” said White.

After school activities 

On a typical hot and humid day, several students and a few adults sat under the shade at Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield County. They were taking a break from the pool. When schools are out, White likes to take them on field trips, such as to Virginia Beach. 

“Now, of course, it's summer, so we have some different things, like going to the park,” White said. “We're gonna go to New York City for a week. This is what we do. We go to different places. I like to take them to museums and parks.”

When they’re not heading off on day trips, the group gets involved in one of the programs, or they do activities. 

“Right now they are learning to sew, and we are writing a book together, which is very exciting,” she said. “We plan to finish it by the end of the year.” 

The students are also learning how to be entrepreneurs and work with local businesses, said White. In fact, she said, they’ve already landed their first gig.

“They're going to be making commercial jingles for organizations, and one organization who found out about it said, well, you can make a commercial jingle for us,” says White, adding it's called Community 50-50. “They refurbish sneakers. They've already done the jingle and now they're working on the music.”

For White, who has one grown-up daughter, the young people she helps are like family. 

“Oh, man, they're my kids. I just love helping them,” she said. “I just love being able to watch them grow and see them succeed, because I see so many people go by the wayside. I see so many people outside our windows, selling drugs and doing things that they shouldn't be doing. So it just warms my heart to see them not out there doing that, and to see when they leave our program, that they're not out there, that they're already working.”