Debbie Burrell-Butler, Mount Vernon Youth Bureau Executive Director, was selected by 914 Inc as one of 21 amazing women making Westchester exponentially better in a huge variety of fields that include healthcare, real estate, nonprofit management, construction, law, and more.
“Grant writer extraordinaire Debbie Burrell-Butler has been serving the Mount Vernon Youth Bureau as its executive director since 2018, but her connection to MVYB actually dates back to when she started volunteering there at age 11, two years after immigrating from her birth home, Jamaica. At 14, under the summer youth employment aegis, Burrell-Butler started her odyssey from office clerk to the city agency’s top spot. Under her direction, MVYB offers 13 programs that impact more than 1,400 youth annually, largely thanks to her grant-writing capabilities—she has a whopping 95% success rate and has secured over $10 million in funding over the course of her career. Her influence extends regionally through leadership roles, including as Treasurer of the Hudson Valley Youth Bureau Association, first vice president of Friends of Mount Vernon Recreation, Arts, and Youth Programs, and as a key member of the Westchester County Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce. She has earned an NAACP-Mt. Vernon Branch Leadership Award (2024), Harriet Tubman Award for Community Service (2025), and others. She is living proof that a visionary individual can rise within a community and become its change agent,” 914 Inc, The Business Magazine of Westchester wrote in the Nov/Dec 2025 issue.
Debbie Burrell-Butler was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, and later immigrated to the great city of Mount Vernon to live with her parents in 1993. She attended Edwards Williams Elementary, Franko Middle School, now known as the STEAM Academy, and graduated from Mount Vernon High School in 2001. That same year, she began working for the Mount Vernon Youth Bureau as a temporary office clerk and since then, have held various titles within the department.
In 2005, Debbie graduated from Fordham University with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and declined a job as a portfolio assistant from Salomon Smith Brother. She was promoted to Executive Director in May 2018, which was also the same year she earned her M.B.A. from Southern New Hampshire University in Public Administration. During Debbie’s 20+ years at the Bureau, she co-founded the V.I.C.T.O.R.Y Program in 2005, which continues to provide youth ages 6-21 with volunteering and internship opportunities.
Although she does not consider herself as a grants guru, she writes grants that provide youth ages 6-24 with job opportunities, programs, services, and apprenticeships. Debbie had mentors, coaches, and a lot of support that helped make her who she is today; therefore, she is paving the way for youth by building meaningful relationships in the community, which aids in young people overcoming barriers and increasing positive development, which eventually leads to their self-sufficiency and future successes.
Oh THIS right here? This is what receipts look like. Debbie Burrell-Butler is literally the embodiment of “from the community, for the community.” Sis went from volunteering at 11 to running the whole Youth Bureau and not because somebody handed her a title, but because she put in the WORK.
A 95% grant success rate and over $10 million secured? That’s not regular. That is Excellence with a capital E. That is “I’m gonna make sure these kids get what we didn’t” energy.
Debbie isn’t just doing a job, she’s shifting a whole ecosystem. And this recognition? Yeah… she earned every bit of it.
Congrats to a real one who shows what leadership looks like when it’s rooted in purpose, service, and community love.✨✨🌸👸🏾