Youth Navigating Toward Opportunity (YNTO) is born from an understanding of what young people need from their community; an understanding that comes from experience. Growing up in rural Pamlico County, Eastern North Carolina was, and still is a challenge. As teenagers, my friends and I had to rely on each other when there were problems at home or school. As we got older, we came to realize how widespread these challenges were and the impact it had. This was motivation enough for me to research it and write a paper highlighting the issues affecting Pamlico County’s youth; existing programs supporting young people in the county usually end when young people reach their adolescent years.  Identifying the need became the inspiration to taking action.   So, in our senior year of high school, we established “Youth Navigating Towards Opportunity” and began helping others…