Yolanda Gross
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (July 27, 2020) – One Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) alumna and staff member-turned-graduate-student will soon be making a difference for the next generation of Houston leaders.
Yolanda Gross ’98, the program coordinator for PVAMU’s Office of Parent and Family Programs, has been selected to serve as an advisor to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner as part of the Mayor’s Student Leaders Alliance (MSLA) for the 2020-2021 year.
MSLA was created by Turner to lift the voices of young adults in the City of Houston and provide them with a seat at the table to discuss and address the city’s most pressing issues. While striving to make Houston a better city for all, Gross and the other selected students from 15 higher education institutions will provide a monthly report to the mayor documenting their progress and recommendations.
“It is an honor to represent my university and community in such a capacity,” said Gross, who is pursuing a master’s degree in community development from PVAMU’s School of Architecture. “I have always had a desire to serve my university, community, and people in general.”
The MSLA seeks to achieve four goals:
- empower Houston’s brightest and most passionate future leaders;
- unify and develop campus student leadership around campus-specific issues;
- provide service to Houston communities and neighborhoods; and
- offer creative solutions to Houston’s issues and innovative ideas for economic and social growth.
“This is an opportunity for PVAMU to sit at the table and be part of important discussions on economic and social growth, community empowerment, and developing student leaders of diverse backgrounds,” Gross said.
In addition to serving as a council member, Gross will assume the role of secretary on the alliance’s leadership team, a position in which she applied and campaigned for.
“My PVAMU Community Development program leaders have prepared me for this role, so I am looking forward to making a positive impact,” she said.
Gross earned a bachelor’s degree from PVAMU in 1998 and will receive her master’s degree this fall. She’s been a PVAMU staff member for more than 15 years.
The MSLA consists of at least one graduate or undergraduate student from the following higher education institutions and systems: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Baptist University, Houston Community College System, Lone Star College system, PVAMU, Rice University, San Jacinto College, South Texas College of Law, Texas A&M University, Texas Southern University, University of Houston, University of Houston – Clear Lake, University of Houston – Downtown, UT Health Science Center, and the University of St. Thomas.
###
By Kendall Hebert