Roc Royal empowers Rochester youth through 585 Dream

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When tragedy struck Khadija Yawn‘s family in 2010, she turned heartbreak into hope for an entire community. That year, Yawn lost her brother to gun violence—an event that inspired her to create what would eventually grow into Roc Royal Inc. and the youth development nonprofit 585 Dream.

“I wanted to bring the community together to talk about the impact of violence and what it does to families,” Yawn says. “It started with Stop the Violence events, but it grew far beyond what I could have imagined.”

A Rochesterian with deep roots in youth development, Yawn had already spent years working with local organizations like The Community Place of Greater Rochester, SWAN and the city of Rochester, building programs that gave young people pathways to thrive. But she dreamed bigger.

In 2010, she launched Roc Royal Entertainment, hosting community events and drives. By 2018, she turned the dream into an official nonprofit, earning coveted 501(c)(3) status, an accomplishment Yawn calls her proudest achievement.

“That piece of paper opened the door for us to write grants, get donations and do so much more,” she says. “It meant the world to know we could take this to another level.”

Meeting youth where they are

Today, 585 Dream, under the Roc Royal umbrella, is changing lives through creative, community-centered programs. The organization’s flagship initiatives include an expansive back-to-school event that has given away more than 32,000 backpacks stuffed with school supplies, uniforms, and free haircuts. What began with 50 backpacks at Genesee Valley Park has grown into one of Rochester’s largest drives—at one point filling Frontier Field with more than 6,000 students.

The annual holiday program is equally ambitious: just last year, families gathered at the Riverside Convention Center for the “1,000 Toys for 1,000 Kids” giveaway, which also included a surprise car raffle. The twist was parents earned raffle tickets by completing free workshops on financial literacy and positive parenting.

“You couldn’t buy a ticket,” Yawn explains. “You invested in yourself to qualify. We want to help parents too.”

And when the pandemic shut down in-person programming, Yawn pivoted to virtual classes, teaching kids how to DJ via Zoom—sometimes Googling “how to share a screen” in real time. “If I could do that on Zoom, imagine what I could do in person,” she laughs. That experiment laid the groundwork for today’s after-school and summer programs.

Through the 585 Dream Academy, kids engage in everything from DJing, poetry and dance to culinary arts, graphic design, sewing, STEM and literacy. During the school year, students from first to sixth grade come together five days a week for academic support and entrepreneurial training. In the summer, 250 children attend licensed camps while others join the new youth sports initiative, which provides free cheerleading, ballet and hip-hop classes for underprivileged kids.

“Our mission is to give kids experiences they might never have otherwise,” Yawn says. One of her favorite examples? The Easter helicopter egg drop. “We dropped 10,000 eggs onto a field from a helicopter. The kids loved it—those moments stay with them.”

Growing a movement, one neighborhood at a time

Yawn’s guiding philosophy is humble but profound: “Building a community, one neighborhood at a time.” For her, that means meeting families where they are, providing wraparound support and creating safe spaces for children to dream big—like she does.

But the road has had its bumps along the way.

“As a Black woman leader, earning trust and respect hasn’t always been automatic,” she says. “And there are growing pains—I didn’t know everything about running a nonprofit at first. But I’m committed to learning. I even took a grant writing course because I want us to keep growing.”

Despite the challenges, Yawn’s drive never wavers. She credits her late family—her mother, father, grandmother and brother—as her chief inspiration.

“I’ve lost my whole core family in less than a decade, but I turn that pain into purpose every day. I want to make them proud,” she says matter-of-factly. “And when I see a kid at school showing me their backpack and saying, ‘Miss Khadija, this is from you,’ I know it’s worth it.”

As Roc Royal and 585 Dream look to the future, Yawn is focused on sustainability. She hopes to secure enough funding to hire full-time staff—currently, she and her team work mostly part-time—and to keep expanding partnerships with schools, local businesses and other community organizations.

“We’re always looking for people to collaborate with us,” she says. “If we each do our part in our little corner, we’ll build something big together.”

Asked what advice she’d share with others hoping to make a difference, Yawn doesn’t hesitate: “Get knocked down, but keep getting up. Life doesn’t follow a clear path, but if you stay open and adjust, you’ll find the blessing waiting for you on the other side.”