In Mayflower, a rural Faulkner County community in Central Arkansas where few visible pathways existed for young people in 1982, Berthenia Gill decided not to wait. With backing from Palarm Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, she founded the Youth Advocate Resource Network, Inc. (YARN) to connect local children to learning and career opportunities they couldn’t find on their own.
And today, YARN is growing.
Three years after Gill founded YARN, the organization hosted its first career fair in spring 1985. Kids showed up. Professionals showed up. The community showed up. People wanted more.
“It started engaging the kids and the community into thinking about other possibilities,” said Maria Hoskins, Gill’s daughter and YARN’s current Executive Director. “Exposing them to many careers and many professionals that they had heard about but had not had opportunity to talk to, or be up close and personal with.”
That first fair grew into something much broader. YARN now runs Early Childhood Literacy Programs, summer Art and Garden Camps, Youth Conferences, and an annual Travel to Learn tour that takes children across the country for hands-on experiences in places many had never been. There’s also a Community Safety and Awareness program covering everything from cybersecurity to Stop the Bleed training.
In 2022, after four decades leading the organization, Gill passed the reins to Maria.
“We’re just expanding on what she has already established,” Maria said. “We’re not changing the mission or the objective, we’re just expanding on that.”
Expansion takes resources. YARN operates the way most rural nonprofits do: small grants, fundraising, and donations. No state or federal funding. That reality means the right opportunity at the right moment matters enormously.
The connection to Communities Unlimited (CU) started at a fundraiser. CU staff member Harold Hunter had been invited by YARN to receive an award for previous work alongside the organization. Hearing about their current needs firsthand, he referred them to CU’s Community Sustainability Team.
CU Community Facilitator Chantel Poor has been working with YARN ever since, passing along funding opportunities, connecting them to partners, and staying attuned to what the organization actually needs. When she learned about a grant opportunity through the Trust for Civic Life, she sent it over.
YARN received a small Civic grant in early 2026. With the grant funding, YARN purchased the tiller they’d been waiting for, expanded their apple orchard, and installed irrigation for the community garden. The garden is central to YARN’s programming: kids plant, tend, harvest, and cook from it. The infrastructure makes that possible at a scale their students need.
The Trust for Civic Life grant wasn’t the first time a connection through CU helped strengthen YARN’s programs. In 2025, CU connected the organization with an opportunity through the Hunger Alliance, which funded cooking classes during its summer camp.
“It was fabulous,” Maria said.
The tiller, the Hunger Alliance partnership, the grant leads. None of it was complicated. It required someone paying attention and making a call.
“Just giving us, you know, ‘Hey, look at this, not sure if it fits what you need, but at least look at it,'” Maria said. “That’s been helpful for us. It keeps us from having to try to pay these massive fees, which we couldn’t afford to pay otherwise.”
"Any help that Communities Unlimited has provided has had a big positive impact on YARN's programs."
Chantel said working alongside the YARN staff has been nothing short of a blessing, especially Maria and Berthenia.
“The love they pour into every child, the patience they carry, and the way they believe in our youth is truly inspiring,” Poor said. “They are not just shaping young minds. They are touching hearts and changing lives in ways that will ripple through generations.”
