Yoyo Yau Announced as New Bridges Homeward Executive Director

Yoyo Yau

We are very excited to announce the appointment of Yoyo Yau as our new Executive Director! She will commence her new position in October of this year. We can’t wait to welcome her to our agency!

Yoyo has more than 20 years of experience helping youth and families in the Greater Boston area to develop healthy, permanent relationships and build stable, safe, and loving homes. Before coming to Bridges Homeward, she served as a director for the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center for 13 years, leading and shaping the organization’s diverse range of programs to better serve their families. 

"I am impressed by Bridges Homeward leaders’ dedication, thoughtfulness, and compassion in the permanency of work for children, youth, and families,” says Yau. “I am very excited to join this amazing team. My vision of Bridges Homeward is working collaboratively to promote permanency, strengthen family connections, and advocate for change on a statewide level. Thus, all people we serve can have the resources and foundation to foster individual and family growth." 

"Everyone who was involved in our search process was impressed by Yoyo’s energy, warmth, and creative thinking,” says Ruth Whitney, Bridges Homeward Board President. “She clearly shares Bridges Homeward’s passion for permanency and our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We took special notice of her ability to create and fund new and expanded programs, and we look forward to working with her to do just that at our agency, while continuing to support our great staff and serve our youth and families.” 

At the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Yau led the development of new initiatives like their Haitian Parent Engagement Project in Mattapan and their participation in the Massachusetts Immigrant Collaborative. As their Chief Program Officer, she led and oversaw their Everett Level of Health Project, which addresses behavioral health for Asian American, Haitian, and Latinx immigrant communities through the lens of racial equity and access to culturally appropriate services. Before BCNC, Yau worked with the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission and at Quincy Medical Center.   

Yau, who is originally from Hong Kong, holds a bachelor’s in social work from Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a master’s in Expressive Therapy and Mental Health Counseling from Lesley University.