Smashing Snowglobes: Making an Impact with Urban Youth in Palm Beach County with Anthony Savine

December 12, 2022

‘Tis the season to “smash snowglobes”! This attention grabbing phrase is one of the ways Urban Youth Impact refers to their mission. When disadvantaged communities are just minutes away from their wealthy neighbors, yet don’t have the resources to grow their own wealth and opportunity, it can be a lot like looking out of a snowglobe – you can see another world, but you can’t obtain it. Anthony Savine joins us this week on Lift U Up: Inspiring Health Stories as Urban Youth Impact’s Director of Advancement, where he shares exactly how they are “smashing snowglobes” in the Palm Beach Community, starting with the kids that need it most.

An Impulse Career Shift

Anthony Savine started his career working for for-profit companies as a marketer. He always had an itch to “do good”, but felt stuck on how to use his time and skills to make a difference. Eventually Anthony decided to start volunteering, and booked a tour with Urban Youth Impact. Mid-tour, Anthony told himself he would not be volunteering there. Instead, he went home that evening and quit his job to work for Urban Youth Impact as a full time employee. Even though he did not know of any open positions yet, minutes after being introduced to their mission, he knew he needed to be a part of it. Luckily for Anthony, there was an opening and he started working with their third graders. After some time with the organization, his marketing skills were recognized and utilized within the nonprofit and Anthony worked his way up to become the Director of Advancement. 

Impacting Deeper Change

One of the reasons Anthony was so drawn to Urban Youth Impact was because he had seen the needs in his county first hand. In fact, he cites that 1 in 5 children in Palm Beach County live in poverty. Urban Youth Impact doesn’t just give money or hand-outs, but they are passionate about creating change on a deeper level. For 25 years they have loved, equipped, and empowered youth in underserved communities and given them the resources to make better lives for themselves. Their programs serve students ages kindergarten through high school with programming that takes place during and after school. The programming teaches educational lessons, shares entrepreneurial stories, and even connects students with hard working professionals in surrounding communities. 

Opportunities for Success

One thing that Anthony wanted to spread the word about was the importance of recognizing what privilege does for opportunity. No matter what, kids growing up with less resources have less opportunities for quality education, career growth, and other areas of success. That is why, he says, it is so important to support these kids from a young age and give them as much as you can to bring them up to a level playing field. Urban Youth Impact connects kids to business leaders, exposes them to a variety of potential career paths, helps them apply to college, teaches them life skills, works to increase their reading level, provides them with counseling – and so much more. They hope to continue to raise awareness, not only of their own mission, but of the needs of communities across the country. 

What else can you expect in this episode?

  • The story of Urban Youth Impact’s founder and what got him started. 
  • Is giving back an inherent desire? And why you might need your worldview shattered.
  • More details about Urban Youth Impact’s 10 different programs. 
  • Why Anthony is grateful to work for Urban Youth Impact and the steps he takes to avoid burnout. 

Where to find Urban Youth Impact: