Ashlé N. Young is a purpose-driven, community-rooted leader committed to ensuring that a person’s ZIP code, family name, or proximity to opportunity does not determine how far they can go. Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Ashlé is a proud graduate of Capitol Senior High School. Her work is deeply personal and reflects her belief that communities already possess the people, culture, relationships, and assets needed to thrive when barriers are removed, and residents are given a meaningful role in shaping their future.

Ashlé serves as the Founding Executive Director of EnvisioNBR, a nonprofit community revitalization organization serving Bogan Walk, Easy Town, Eden Park, and Greenville Extension. As the community quarterback, EnvisioNBR brings residents, schools, businesses, government agencies, funders, and nonprofit partners together to advance mixed-income housing, cradle-to-college and workforce education, community wellness, and economic vitality.

Ashlé leads this work with a commitment to restoring community, empowering legacy, and creating sustainable pathways for families to thrive without being displaced from the neighborhoods they helped build. Her leadership is grounded in the belief that meaningful revitalization must happen with residents, not to them. She embraces “withintrification,” a term coined by Purpose Built Communities to describe community transformation led from within by the people, relationships, culture, and assets already present.

Before leading EnvisioNBR, Ashlé built a career spanning nonprofit leadership, faith-based programming, youth development, public service, strategic partnerships, and community engagement. She served in the administrations of Louisiana Governors John Bel Edwards and Jeff Landry, where her work supported young people, families, schools, nonprofit organizations, and faith-based partners across the state.

Ashlé currently serves as a commissioner of the Capital Area Transit System and brings a personal connection to transportation as the daughter of two longtime school bus drivers. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, and the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge.

Ashlé holds a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Master of Arts from Southern University and A&M College and Louisiana State University. She has also participated in ULDI Cohort 10, TORCH: The Academy of Politics, the Business Report Executive Leadership Academy, and the Nonprofit Leadership Fellowship.

Above all, Ashlé is a wife, mother, caregiver, and advocate who leads with faith, courage, and a commitment to creating access, opportunity, and lasting change. She is a changemaker because she turns vision into action and refuses to accept that where someone begins should determine where they are allowed to finish.