about


	Operation CAVE’s mission is to empower today’s youth to make positive life choices.

	“I never expected my dream to be the product of my family’s worst nightmare,” says Operation CAVE founder Trina Lynn Yearwood. Tragedy struck on March 12, 2000 when Carlos Ricardo Cave, Sr. came face to face with the gun that ultimately ended his life. Although his demise is afflicted by grim images, those who knew Carlos would say he lived life to the contrary. He was a compassionate, loyal, peaceful and humble man who never allowed trivial things to bother him. He was always willing to give a helping hand. Only in his twenties at the time of his death, Trina remembers Carlos as “a trailblazer and a leader who always encouraged others to live their lives as role models for youth to emulate.” Refusing to let her cousin’s violent death be in vain, Trina decided to turn tragedy into triumph and build upon Carlos’s vision of positive examples for young people to follow. Thus, Operation CAVE was delivered as a symbol of love and unity to empower young people to make positive life choices in order to avoid or escape violent situations.


	Operation CAVE, a 501(c)(3) organization, is dedicated to empowering youth in urban communities through the arts. Operation CAVE addresses ongoing social issues that young people face by providing support services that offer a platform for sharing, self-empowerment and making positive life choices. Five years in the making, from a grief driven epiphany to the development of a legacy, the fundamental principals of Campaign to Annihilate Violence Everywhere [CAVE], include the amalgamation of spoken word and theatre. Based on oral tradition and story-telling, the organization uses performance pieces to market its platform of alternatives to violence and rebuilding self-esteem. With Brooklyn as its headquarters, Trina aspires to implement educational programs borough-wide that will host motivational seminars and pre/post show forums that offer the youth opportunities to not only address but offer solutions to social issues. “We need to take initiative and stop complaining about what is going on in our communities and take encouraging steps to reconstructing the minds, rebuilding the esteem and strengthening positive identities in our future–the youth.”