Speaker’s Bio
Tracy Bradshaw’s career has been mission driven and dedicated to helping teams, individuals, families, schools, and communities improve. As a passionate advocate for youth programs, she has raised nearly $7 million dollars in new funds in an economically depressed area. Over the last two decades she has led, worked with, and trained countless workplace teams. She has enjoyed training at the national and state level on innovative practices for increasing youth engagement. Tracy developed her leadership skills at a non- profit Community Action Agency committed to alleviating the effects of poverty within their region. The programs she designed served 1 in 4 students in a rural western New York County, located in the uppermost portion of the Appalachian Region. Her understanding of how to work with vulnerable populations helped ACCORD’s youth programs grow under her leadership from three to thirteen schools, reduced pregnancy rates by 10%, and increased services for students suffering with mental illness. The youth programs, evidencing increases in academic success and social skill development, were nationally recognized as innovative on three occasions. Tracy attributes her success to the inclusion of youth voice when developing and implementing programs.
In 2018, Tracy and her family moved from Western New York to South Carolina to help further the mission of YEScarolina. YEScarolina teaches entrepreneurship to SC high school students to produce workforce ready youth who are able to create business, grow wealth, and impact economic development. In her first year as Executive Director she created and has begun implementing a strategic plan increasing opportunities for SC students by focusing on regional, rural, and resource development. In her first initiative for the 2019-2020 school year, Heat Up Entrepreneurship, 35 nominated teachers from high poverty- low performing SC schools that complete the YEScarolina 26 hour online training and certification, implement a classroom capstone project with competition, and brings students to the State Business Plan Competition will receive $500, a veteran entrepreneurship teaching mentor, and access to social and emotional learning resources that enhance the experiential YEScarolina entrepreneurship class.