ABOUT
Aligning boldly-resilient young people with the tools and mindset to move courageously,
with purpose and discipline, to activate underserved communities
Marquetta
Atkins-Woods
Executive Director
Destination Innovation
Progeny
Camp Destination Innovation
Root the Power
Marquetta Atkins is a community educator who brings her passion for working with youth and her creative energy to the table as a facilitator. For years she has dedicated herself to ensuring that young people are equipped with the tools for a better future. She was born and raised in Wichita, KS and graduated with a degree in Communications from Wichita State University. Her persistence in reaching her educational goals equipped her to be a mentor for high school youth in Wichita, including her own children Devon a senior at WSU and Aimani an sophomore at Prairie View A & M University.
Marquetta’s passion for youth development is rooted in her conviction that youth are the change-makers we need for the transformation of our communities, both today and in the future.
In 2015, she founded Camp Destination Innovation to expose young people to a variety of career options; encouraging them to create their own future. The camp also helps youth explore strategies for entrepreneurship and civic engagement, grounding their professional development in a larger vision for whole and healthy communities.
Striving to eliminate the barriers facing young people and women as entrepreneurs, Marquetta created Women Entrepreneurs of Kansas (WeKan!), an initiative to support the growth and power of women entrepreneurs. Marquetta’s talented facilitation challenges people to question their own assumptions and dig deeper into critical awareness. Marquetta is a member of the Entrepreneurship Task Force, the Evergreen Curriculum Committee, sits on the Juneteenth committee and serves on the Innovation Committee at Wichita State University.
Jondalyn
Marshall
Director of Administration
Root the Power Program Manager
Jondalyn has organized Root the Power since 2018, guiding the program through a successful expansion in size and impact. Her experience as an entrepreneur business owner, coaching individuals and groups in pursuit of their wellness goals, has equipped her to be a skilled mentor and facilitator with the young people involved in Root the Power and a connector with other community partners. Jondalyn has a Master’s degree in Business Administration and experience working in both business and nonprofit administration, which makes her invaluable to our internal operations and sustainability as an organization.
Margi
Ault-Duell
Program and Operations Director
Margi is involved in each of Destination Innovation’s program areas and in the internal operations of Destination Innovation. Her background is in program design and facilitation, as well as in building sustainable organizational cultures. She has a Master of Divinity degree and 10 years of experience in social justice education, particularly in immigrant rights, globalization, and racial justice. Margi’s vision for social change honors the need for multiple strategies and an ecosystem of efforts. Her hope is for people to see themselves as powerful and beautiful, as change-makers capable of uprooting internalized and external oppression and creating systems of equity and dignity. She loves working at the level of personal and interpersonal transformation, where people connect themselves to a bigger vision for social change.
Tyler
Williams
Progeny Community Organizer
Tyler has been involved in Progeny as a Youth Leader since the program began in 2017, and joined the program staff in 2018. Tyler is a formerly adjudicated youth in the state of Kansas who understands first-hand how and why the juvenile justice system needs to be changed to not only help youth grow but also to assist healing the community as a whole. He also knows how important it is to be proactive in investing in communities to build a safer and more prosperous Kansas. Tyler works on the national level as a former youth leader and now alumni of Youth First and has interned on a State level as a community organizer with Kansas Appleseed and received a governor’s appointment to the Kansas Advisory Group for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency and plans to utilize his platform to elevate the voices of impacted youth.
Shanae'
Calhoun
Policy Manager
Shanae’ works with the Progeny Youth Leaders to advance their vision for transforming the juvenile justice system and reinvesting money into programs that support youth, preventing involvement in the juvenile justice system, and offering sustainable alternatives for economic development, wellness, and restorative justice. Shanae' is the founder of Willow Consulting and the Lead Organizer for Topeka JUMP, with her work focusing on activating diverse groups of people to passionately move towards a common purpose by making systemic change. Shanae’ holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Florida State University and 11 years of experience in community organizing, actively coaching nonprofit staff and faith leaders in building grassroots movements to address poverty and injustice in their local communities.
Yadira
Palacios
Communications Manager
Destination Innovation
Root the Power
Progeny
Yadira joined our team in 2018, entering the organization during a period of rapid development for both Progeny and Root the Power. Her work has been essential in the successful growth of these programs, helping them to become well-recognized within the Wichita community and beyond and to gain greater public involvement and support. With a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, she brings to the team her eye for design and her experience in social media, marketing, photography, and video production.
Yusef
Presley
Youth Ally
YP Project
Born and raised in Wichita, Ks. Yusef Presley is a former Youth Leader turned staff member, in the Kansas based juvenile justice organization Progeny who understand well how the Kansas system impacts youth from the lens of being in the foster care system since he was 5 years old, placed over 100xs until he was adopted in 2009, then placed back in the system on the JJA side in 2012. He has a strong voice and insight on foster care to prison pipelines and wants to work to ensure future young people do not experience the hardships and lack of governance he has endured in this system. Along with Progeny Yusef sits on a national level as a youth representative on the CLASP (Center for Law and Social Policy) Team , as an alumni youth leader for the national organization Youth First. Yusef recently was granted the distinguished Open Society Foundation-Soros Justice Fellowship grant, to execute his documentary about his time in the Kansas Foster Care System. Yusef has goals of becoming a mentor and role model for how youth can overcome tough situations, and dreams of being a little league coach and opening his own foster care home.
Desmond
Progeny
Program Manager &
Lead Organizer
Dynasty
Executive Assistant
Destination Innovation
Root the Power
Progeny
Brandy
Willett
Board President
Wichita State University
Fabrice
Metan
Board Treasurer
Simplify My Numbers
Nadine
Long
Board Member
KU Medical Center
Dr. Michelle
Vann
Board Member
Sistahs Can We Talk
Vanntastic Solutions, LLC
Katy
Weidner
Board Member
Kansas Leadership Center
David
Ferguson
Board Member
Adler & Colvin
Angela
Baker
Board Member
ADT
Ngoc
Vuong
Board Member
Partners for Wichita
Mike
Fonkert
Board Member
Kansas Appleseed
Angie
Scott
Board Member
Wichita State University
Malakia
Bell
Board Member
USD 259
Nick
Flores
Board Member
Occidental Management
Jill
Miller
Board Member
Finishing School for Modern Women
