Andrew Young, Chair, Andrew J. Young Foundation

Andrew Young is the chair of the Andrew J. Young Foundation, a non-profit organization established to promote more just and prosperous communities in the U.S. and globally by developing and supporting new generations of multiracial leadership.

The Foundation supports efforts in four areas that reflect Young’s work as a pastor, activist, ambassador, and elected official – community and faith-based initiatives; civil rights and civic participation; international humanitarian initiatives; and public service.

Through the Foundation’s documentary production program, “Andrew Young Presents,” Young is an Emmy-winning producer of more than 20 documentaries which have been syndicated and distributed nationally and internationally.

Young was a key confidant and strategist to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1972 he was elected to represent Georgia’s 5th district, the first African-American elected from the South since Reconstruction. He was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, the first African-American to do so. In that role, Young established the framework for international negotiations that led to democracy in several nations in Southern Africa.

He later served as Mayor of Atlanta, bringing jobs and seventy billion dollars in private investment to the City during a recession. His leadership, vision and global reputation were instrumental in bringing the Centennial Olympic Games to Atlanta in 1996.

Young retired from GoodWorks International, an international business consulting firm he co-founded, following his 80th birthday.

His many awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the NAACP’s Springarn Medal, the Olympic Order and France’s Legion d’honneur, the nation’s greatest honor, as well as more than 100 honorary degrees. He serves on a number of boards including: the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change; the United Nations Foundation; Morehouse College and the Andrew Young School for Policy Studies at Ambassador Young’s critical contributions to American life and history were celebrated in 2011 with a Lifetime Emmy Award and the placement of his portrait on permanent exhibit of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

Ambassador Young is married to civic leader and philanthropist Carolyn McLain Young.

Carolyn McClain Young, Vice Chair, Andrew J. Young Foundation

 

Carolyn McClain Young, Vice Chair of the Andrew J. Young Foundation, is a life-long educator, civic leader and philanthropist. She is also the executive director of “Andrew Young Presents,” the Foundation’s Emmy-winning, nationally-syndicated series of more than 20 documentaries highlighting Africa, the Civil Rights Movement and other social issues.

 

Young is the fund-raising force majeure behind the Foundation and other causes. She raised an endowment of more than $1.3 million for the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University; supports Clark Atlanta University (CAU) as a board trustee; and sponsors the Carolyn Young Mentor Walk, a program of the Campus Community Partnership Foundation.

 

Previously, Young was an executive with the Atlanta-based GoodWorks International, LLC, a leading global advisory firm offering international market access and political risk analysis in key emerging markets within Africa and the Caribbean. In this position, she was co-owner for Protocol Contact for Foreign Dignitaries, and was responsible for planning logistics for guests and event planning for staff and corporate sponsors.

 

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Elementary Education from CAU (formerly Clark College) and a Master of Elementary Education from Georgia State University. She was instrumental in desegregating the faculty of the Atlanta Public School System, hired to work at East Lake Elementary School in 1967, her first job as a teacher.

 

During her teaching career, Young was recognized with several awards and honors including the 1976 Atlanta Area II Teacher of the Year, Georgia Teachers Incentive Award for Intermediate Grades, and the Southern Bell Black History Calendar as a “Teacher of Excellence.” She retired after 30 years of distinguished service with the Atlanta Public Schools.

 

Young has volunteered her time, talent and influence to a host of local, national and international civic and community service organizations holding leadership position. Some of the organizations she has served include G-Capp (founded by Jane Fonda); Steering Committee for the King Center’s King Week Activities; National Committee for the Arts; Finance Committee for the City of Atlanta Celebration of Older Citizens Month; Atlanta Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; Buckhead Cascade Chapter of The Links, Inc.; Union Baptist Church; the Ebony Fashion Fair scholarship fundraiser; the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Women’s Board; the Clark Atlanta University Guild; and the Sophisticates, Atlanta Chapter. Her international work includes serving as co-sponsor of the Bethesda House (an orphanage in Soweto for children with AIDS). She also has done volunteer work for UNCF for more than 30 years.

 

Young currently serves on the following boards: Clark Atlanta University Board of Trustees; United Negro College Fund; Andrew & Walter Young Family YMCA; Atlanta Technical College; WestCare; and the Board of Advisors for the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University. Previous board affiliations include the Governor’s Reform Commission for Education; Georgia Human Relations Commission; Board of the Georgia Council of Abused Children; Apex Museum; Fernbank Museum; Rabun Gap/Nacoochee School; Starlight Foundation and Literacy Action, Inc.

 

She is married to Ambassador Andrew Young.