In movies and novels spanning all genres, there is always a need for a hero or heroine — someone willing to take on hurdles of all sizes to better the lives of those around them.

You don’t have to go to the pages of Tolkien or watch the latest Spielberg to find these heroes, as Yolo County is home to many examples of “hometown heroes” present all around us who are often unaware of the effect they’ve had on the people around them.

The Woodland Daily Democrat aims to highlight them in a joint project with a dozen other north-state newspapers that are part of the California Newspaper Partnership. We asked our readers to nominate someone they know and admire to be our second-ever “Yolo County Hero.”

Five fantastic nominees who have proven to be heroes in Woodland or Yolo County in one way or another have been selected to show what it means to be a hero in Yolo County.

This week, we look at the life and work of Jayne Williams — founder and executive director of All Leaders Must Serve (ALMS) — who has made it her mission to help mentor Yolo County youth and give them the skills they need for success.

“Between the ages of 15 and 25, there is a window where young people either go to the right or the left or they don’t go anywhere at all,” Williams said. “It’s a window of opportunity, and we want to tap into that window and change their trajectory back on the best track for them.”

All Leaders Must Serve reaches out to the socially, emotionally, and economically disadvantaged high school and college-age youth who are unprepared for the adult workforce. ALMS can bridge the gap between high school and a living wage job by providing practical and technical training not offered in Woodland.

ALMS helps offset racial, economic, and academic disparities through professional and community networks, financial assistance, and long-term mentoring services. By providing a healthy family surrogate when positive role-modeling may not occur at home, ALMS helps youth struggling to figure out life get a second chance to build confidence and interpersonal skills and experience a sense of belonging. This empowers and encourages responsibility and empathy for others.

“Some of our young people don’t even have someone [in their lives] who will give them a hug,” Williams explained. “Young people don’t see their value and purpose — they don’t see it, many of them don’t. We want people who see the value and the purpose of our young people, yeah, and are and are ready to help them.”

Williams’ passion for helping today’s adolescwents and young adults derives from her personal experiences, ones where she often felt she was slipping through the cracks.

“I grew up at a time where Black and Brown students were not educated. Where I lived, my father retired from the Air Force Academy in 1960 and so I grew up in California and in Colorado, and at 18, I came to Sacramento by myself. I graduated illiterate,” she recalled. “But I could always get a job because I had the soft skills — I knew how to smile and I had the personality.”

However, Williams’ life changed when she met her first mentor, who offered Williams an assistant position in the state capitol. The only requirement to be hired: Williams had to learn to read.

“I taught myself how to read about two weeks, and came back to her, and she hired me as her assistant, and I eventually ended up working for the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee at the state capitol.”

She said after decades of working in California’s capital city, Williams found herself in Esparto, where she realized there was an incredible need for a program to catch the youth who felt invisible — just as Williams felt she was in her own journey.

“I wanted something that would catch kids falling through the cracks — kids like me, kids who felt invisible,” Williams explained. “So I know these kids, and I wrote a program that these kids could relate to. So it’s very interactive, and I get the privilege of encouraging and inspiring them every day I see them. That’s my passion.”

ALMS has become a multi-faceted, wraparound service and support system that extends beyond the availability of the government and businesses that offer only mainstream resources. Available weekdays, evenings, and weekends, Mentors and Social Support System volunteers all walk alongside young adults from high school to the adult living-wage workforce.

Whether success comes immediately or after years of personal growth and development, ALMS youth are equipped by seeing the program through to completion (initially 10 weeks). They are given the tools to accomplish and excel in their personal and workplace goals.

“I’m most proud of students,” Williams said. “We start seeing the transformation of who they become within the third meeting. Their eyes start lighting up with their confidence, which is the number one thing we try to work on.”

For Williams, being nominated as a “Yolo County Hero” isn’t a reflection of her own work — rather, she believes it shows just how much ALMS is needed in Yolo County. She was recently recognized as the 2024 Member of the Year during the Woodland Chamber of Commerce’s 93rd Annual Dinner and Awards ceremony.

“To nominate me is to nominate the organization,” Williams told the Daily Democrat. “Our purpose and passion is for our youth … to be recognized as a hero shows that our community understands the importance of this mission.”

For more information on ALMS, you can go to the organization’s website at https://www.allleadersmustserve.org/.