PROJECT YESS: THE VILLAGE THAT BUILT MIKEY — HOW ROSEMARY BANKS, GATOR RIVERS & A SAVANNAH YOUTH PROGRAM HELPED SHAPE A GENERATION

PROJECT YESS: THE VILLAGE THAT BUILT MIKEY — HOW ROSEMARY BANKS, GATOR RIVERS & A SAVANNAH YOUTH PROGRAM HELPED SHAPE A GENERATION

From approximately ages 12 to 17, George Ransom Turner III found more than summer activities through Project YESS. He found a community-development environment that supported education, athletics, social growth, relationships, and the confidence to pursue a bigger future.

CRUSH MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE | THE LEGACY & EMPIRE SERIES | ISSUE 012

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

Before Mr CRUSH.

Before PartyPlugMikey.

Before Plug Not A Rapper.

Before the Army.

Before corporate sales.

Before entrepreneurship.

Before the albums, music videos, magazines, and entertainment concepts.

There was a young boy growing up in Savannah.

A boy still learning who he was.

A boy developing his confidence.

A boy navigating childhood, school, sports, friendships, and the realities of growing up.

And during some of the most important years of his adolescence, there was an organization that helped create opportunities for him and other young people.

PROJECT YESS.

For George Ransom Turner III, better known as Mikey, Project YESS was not simply something to do during summer vacation.

It was part of his development.

A place to participate.

A place to learn.

A place to connect.

A place where adults invested time and resources in young people who were still discovering their abilities.

And a place that helped shape the person he would become.

BEFORE THE WORLD COULD RECOGNIZE HIS POTENTIAL, PEOPLE IN SAVANNAH WERE ALREADY INVESTING IN IT.

AGES 12–17: THE YEARS THAT HELPED DEFINE THE FUTURE.

There is something important about the years between childhood and adulthood.

You’re old enough to begin imagining your future.

But young enough that your environment can still have an extraordinary influence on what you believe is possible.

The people around you matter.

The opportunities available to you matter.

The examples you see matter.

And the adults who decide to invest in your development can make a lasting difference.

For Mikey, the years from approximately age 12 through age 17 included participation in Project YESS, a nonprofit youth and community-development organization offering summer and year-round activities.

Those years coincided with his development as a student, athlete, and young person building relationships throughout Savannah.

Project YESS provided opportunities extending beyond traditional classroom instruction.

Educational resources.

Social interaction.

Recreational activities.

Community engagement.

Mentorship.

And structured opportunities for teenagers to spend time together while developing their interests.

IT WASN’T JUST ABOUT KEEPING KIDS BUSY.

IT WAS ABOUT HELPING YOUNG PEOPLE GROW.

ROSEMARY BANKS: THE AUNT WHO HELPED MAKE OPPORTUNITY PERSONAL.

Every meaningful community-development story has people who make the work possible.

For Mikey, one of those people was his aunt, Rosemary Banks.

Known to him through her connections with Savannah State and Delta Sigma Theta, Aunt Rose represented something especially powerful.

Family involvement in community development.

Her role in supporting Project YESS meant that the organization’s mission was not something distant from Mikey’s life.

It was connected to someone he knew.

Someone within his own family.

Someone whose investment in young people extended beyond simply encouraging them to do well.

The distinction matters.

Telling a child to succeed is one thing.

Helping create an environment where that child can develop is another.

SOMETIMES THE PERSON WHO CHANGES YOUR FUTURE IS ALREADY PART OF YOUR FAMILY.

For Mikey, Aunt Rose’s involvement with Project YESS is part of a larger family story about education, opportunity, service, and community responsibility.

It connects the personal to the institutional.

The family to the neighborhood.

And the encouragement of one young person to a broader effort supporting many.

AUNT ROSE WASN’T JUST PART OF HIS FAMILY STORY. SHE WAS PART OF HIS DEVELOPMENT STORY.

GATOR RIVERS: WHEN ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE MEETS COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP.

Another important figure in the Project YESS story is Gator Rivers.

Known for his association with the Harlem Globetrotters, Rivers represents the connection between athletic accomplishment and youth engagement.

For a young person growing up with basketball ambitions, that kind of presence carries meaning.

Professional athletes and accomplished sports figures can show young people that the skills developed on a local court may lead to opportunities far beyond their hometown.

But the deeper lesson is not that every child will become a professional athlete.

It’s that discipline, confidence, preparation, communication, and teamwork can have value throughout life.

Through his involvement with Project YESS, Rivers helped connect athletic experience with the broader purpose of supporting young people.

For Mikey, whose own development included basketball and competitive athletics, the relationship between sports and personal growth was especially relevant.

THE BASKETBALL COURT COULD TEACH LESSONS THAT FOLLOWED YOU LONG AFTER THE FINAL BUZZER.

THE PROJECT YESS GENERATION: MORE THAN ONE SUCCESS STORY.

The Project YESS experience was never just about Mikey.

It involved other young people growing up in Savannah during the same period.

Among the peers he remembers are:

Teredeshia Hunter.

Shay’Vonda Jones.

Christopher Butler.

Portia Bosco.

These individuals, whom Mikey identifies with the Windsor Forest High School community, represent part of the generation whose teenage experiences included access to youth programming, relationships, and opportunities through Project YESS.

Their inclusion matters.

Because community development should never be measured by the story of only one participant.

A youth organization may influence dozens or hundreds of lives in different ways.

One student may become an athlete.

Another may enter business.

Another may pursue higher education.

Another may build a family.

Another may become a community leader.

And another may discover talents that were not obvious during adolescence.

The outcomes can be different while the value of the opportunity remains meaningful.

The individual achievements of Hunter, Jones, Butler, and Bosco deserve to be documented through their own accounts rather than assumed.

ONE PROGRAM. MANY YOUNG PEOPLE. MANY DIFFERENT FUTURES.

That is how the story becomes bigger than a single biography.

FROM PROJECT YESS TO WENDY’S HIGH SCHOOL HEISMAN RECOGNITION.

Mikey’s athletic and academic development eventually included recognition through the Wendy’s High School Heisman program.

That recognition belongs to a later chapter of his high school journey.

But in his own understanding of that journey, Project YESS was part of the foundation that helped prepare him.

The relationship should not be reduced to a claim that one organization single-handedly produced an award.

Achievement develops through many influences.

Family.

Teachers.

Coaches.

Teammates.

Personal discipline.

Educational opportunity.

And the willingness to keep working.

Project YESS was one part of that broader environment.

It gave Mikey access to experiences and relationships during formative years.

And those experiences helped shape the confidence and development he carried into later accomplishments.

THE RECOGNITION CAME LATER. THE INVESTMENT STARTED EARLIER.

That is one of the most important lessons in the entire story.

By the time the public sees an achievement, years of development may already have taken place.

And many of the people responsible for creating those opportunities never appear in the photograph.

THE SOCIAL EDUCATION THAT DOESN’T ALWAYS APPEAR ON A REPORT CARD.

Not every important lesson is taught through a textbook.

Young people also learn through interaction.

Through friendships.

Through group activities.

Through competition.

Through disagreements.

Through new experiences.

Through conversations with adults.

And through the process of learning how to move confidently in different environments.

Project YESS provided opportunities for that kind of development.

For Mikey, whose later identity would include entertainment promotion, sales, leadership, and public-facing creative work, those early social experiences are an important part of the story.

They helped provide opportunities to connect with other young people.

To participate in organized activities.

To experience different personalities.

And to develop relationships beyond the immediate boundaries of school and home.

BEFORE HE WAS BUILDING AUDIENCES, HE WAS LEARNING HOW TO CONNECT WITH PEOPLE.

The relationship between early social development and later professional confidence is worth exploring.

Not because every adult accomplishment can be traced to one childhood activity.

But because the environments available to young people can influence how they understand themselves and others.

THE REAL POWER OF PROJECT YESS WAS ACCESS.

Access to activities.

Access to mentorship.

Access to educational resources.

Access to recreation.

Access to positive social experiences.

Access to adults who cared about youth development.

And access to opportunities that might otherwise have been more difficult to find.

For families, youth programming can provide valuable support.

For teenagers, it can create new possibilities.

And for communities, it can become part of a broader effort to invest in the next generation.

YOU CANNOT EXPECT EVERY CHILD TO DISCOVER THEIR POTENTIAL WITHOUT GIVING THEM OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPLORE IT.

That is why Project YESS belongs in the larger story of Savannah’s community-development history.

It represents the kind of local investment whose influence may continue long after an individual participant has grown up.

THE CONNECTION TO SAVANNAH’S LARGER LEGACY.

Project YESS did not exist in a cultural vacuum.

It was part of a Savannah environment shaped by generations of educators, families, athletes, civic organizations, and community leaders.

Its work belongs within the broader tradition of adults creating opportunities for young people.

The Gullah Geechee coastal heritage.

The history of Black education.

The development of Savannah State.

The influence of local athletic programs.

The role of community organizations.

And the continued importance of neighborhood relationships.

These histories are distinct, but they share an important theme.

THE FUTURE OF A COMMUNITY DEPENDS IN PART ON WHAT IT INVESTS IN ITS CHILDREN.

For Mikey, Project YESS makes that principle personal.

It is not simply a theory about community development.

It is something he experienced.

THE LESSON FOR MR CRUSH: REMEMBER WHO INVESTED BEFORE THE SUCCESS.

Today, Mikey’s ambitions span entertainment, entrepreneurship, marketing, technology, and community impact.

But Project YESS provides an important reminder about the responsibility that comes with those ambitions.

There was a time when he was the young person receiving an opportunity.

When somebody else was organizing the program.

When somebody else was helping make resources available.

When somebody else was investing time.

When somebody else believed the next generation deserved support.

And when the future was still uncertain.

YOU CAN’T FULLY UNDERSTAND YOUR SUCCESS WITHOUT REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE WHO HELPED PREPARE YOU FOR IT.

That is where the Project YESS story becomes especially powerful.

It is not just a childhood memory.

It is a model of what community investment can mean.

And it offers a foundation for thinking about what the next generation might need.

A NEW RESPONSIBILITY: FROM PROGRAM PARTICIPANT TO FUTURE COMMUNITY BUILDER.

What would it mean to carry the lessons of Project YESS forward?

Not simply by celebrating the organization’s history.

But by understanding the principles that made it meaningful.

Consistency.

Access.

Mentorship.

Educational support.

Social development.

Recreation.

And adults willing to invest in young people before their potential is fully visible.

Those principles could inform future youth initiatives associated with the CRUSH community vision.

Programs connecting athletics with career exploration.

Opportunities for young people to learn digital media.

Mentorship from professionals and entrepreneurs.

Support for educational goals.

And spaces where teenagers can develop positive relationships.

These are future possibilities, not claims that a successor program has already been launched.

But the inspiration is real.

THE CHILD WHO ONCE BENEFITED FROM COMMUNITY INVESTMENT CAN GROW INTO AN ADULT WHO UNDERSTANDS WHY IT MATTERS.

GIVE THE PEOPLE THEIR FLOWERS WHILE THE HISTORY CAN STILL BE TOLD.

Rosemary Banks.

Gator Rivers.

The Project YESS organizers.

The mentors.

The volunteers.

The families.

The young participants.

Teredeshia Hunter.

Shay’Vonda Jones.

Christopher Butler.

Portia Bosco.

And the other Savannah teenagers whose experiences helped define that period.

These names and relationships deserve a place in the historical record.

Not because everybody followed the same path.

But because they were part of a shared community-development experience.

The next step is to preserve their perspectives.

What do they remember?

What activities mattered most?

What opportunities did they receive?

Which adults influenced them?

How did the program affect their educational and social development?

And what lessons would they want today’s young people to inherit?

A COMMUNITY’S HISTORY BECOMES STRONGER WHEN THE PEOPLE WHO LIVED IT HELP TELL IT.

THE VILLAGE THAT BUILT MIKEY.

Before the records.

Before the recognition.

Before the professional accomplishments.

Before the entertainment brands.

Before the global ambitions.

There were people in Savannah who believed young people deserved opportunity.

There was Aunt Rose.

There was Gator Rivers.

There was Project YESS.

There were peers growing up together.

There were summers filled with experiences.

There were school years shaped by development.

There were lessons that did not always come with certificates.

And there was a young Mikey learning how to become the person he would eventually be.

The story of his success is not a story of doing everything alone.

It is a story of personal ambition shaped by family, community, education, athletics, and opportunity.

BEFORE HE COULD BUILD A BRAND, A COMMUNITY HELPED BUILD HIS FOUNDATION.

BEFORE HE COULD INSPIRE SOMEBODY ELSE, PEOPLE INVESTED IN HIM.

BEFORE THERE WAS MR CRUSH, THERE WAS MIKEY.

AND BEFORE MIKEY COULD IMAGINE THE FUTURE, PROJECT YESS HELPED GIVE HIM ROOM TO GROW.

PROJECT YESS: THE VILLAGE THAT BUILT MIKEY.

THE INVESTMENT CAME FIRST. THE ACHIEVEMENTS CAME LATER. THE GRATITUDE REMAINS.

CRUSH MAGAZINE | THE LEGACY & EMPIRE SERIES

https://OrangeCrushFestival.net

Editorial note: This feature is based on George Ransom Turner III’s firsthand account of his participation in Project YESS, his family connection to Rosemary Banks, and his recollections of Gator Rivers and fellow participants. Specific organizational records, the roles of individual sponsors, award documentation, and the later achievements of named participants should be corroborated through interviews and archival material before being represented as independently verified.

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