A Life of Service
Mr. Youlon Davinci Savage was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on June 16, 1928, to the late Rev. Archbald Savage and Mrs. Mattie Hester Savage.
After serving in the U.S. Army, where he rose to the rank of captain, Mr. Savage focused on providing services to people with mental health challenges. Following his 1964 graduation from GSSW, Mr. Savage worked for four years with the Denver Department of Human Services and then began his career at the Adams Community Mental Health Center, where he advanced from therapist to deputy director.
In 1973, the Colorado Division of Mental Health recruited Mr. Savage to coordinate the state’s community mental health services. As the division’s deputy director, Savage drafted a bill that expanded community mental health services statewide, with particular attention to areas of the state that lacked them. In 1978, he returned to Adams Community Mental Health Center (now Community Reach Center) as executive director, where he served for another 23 years. Mr. Savage also served nearly two decades on the Colorado State Board of Human Services, including 10 years as chair.
At Mr. Savage’s memorial service, former Community Reach Center colleague Rick Doucette recalled, “Since the early 70s, [Youlon has] been inspirational in the growth and development of behavioral health services, not only in Adams County but in the state of Colorado.” He noted that Mr. Savage’s advocacy focused on destigmatizing behavioral health treatment for everyone. Part of that work included the state’s 1993 Medicaid expansion. “This was the single most important event for behavioral health since the Community Mental Health Act of 1963, which was the beginning of community-based care. Youlon was a big reason this happened.”
Jason Lester, MSW ’16, adds, “Youlon was an exceptional trailblazer in social work. He was the first Black man to serve as the executive director of a community mental health agency in Colorado and a lifelong advocate for the disenfranchised and forgotten, of all backgrounds.”
Mr. Savage engaged in a lifetime of service as a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and through his volunteer work with, among others, the Race and Social Justice Work Group and The Denver Foundation’s Health Advisory Committee. At GSSW in particular, he was a longtime member of GSSW’s Board of Visitors and the school’s Advisory Committee on Racial Diversity. In 2000, he created the Youlon D. Savage Endowed Scholarship to support African American MSW students at GSSW. Mr. Savage retired in 2001 following a social work career that spanned nearly 40 years, and in 2002, he received the University of Denver Community Service Award.
To date, 17 students have received the Youlon Savage scholarship. Lester was one of those recipients. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without Youlon,” says Lester, who went on to earn a Doctor of Social Work degree and now mentors new social workers himself as a GSSW clinical assistant professor.
One Colorado Executive Director Nadine Bridges, MSW ’10, adds, “Youlon created a foundation for many Black social workers to thrive.”
