Andrew Young

Post-mayoral career

Young has been a director of the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, and is also the chairman of the board for the Global Initiative for the Advancement of Nutritional Therapy.

In 1990, Young was a member of the Atlanta Olympic bid committee. He served as co-chair of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

Between April 29 to May 3, 1992, the 1992 Los Angeles riots took place in response to the acquittal of the four LAPD officers charged with using excessive force in the arrest of Rodney King. After President George H. W. Bush said initially that justice had been served, Young criticized him as having known better: "I never got mad during the whole civil rights movement because I knew what I was dealing with with an Alabama jury or a Mississippi jury. But from a California jury in the home of a former president, I expected more – particularly when they’ve got pictures."

From 2000 to 2001, Young served as president of the National Council of Churches.

In April 2000, Young appeared on stage with Vice President Al Gore at Morehouse College as the presidential candidate called for programs to better the access of computers and the Internet for minorities. After the election, in which Gore lost to George W. Bush, Young spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church, calling for Bush to not follow the divisiveness of his party and cited Attorney General nominee John Ashcroft as not being qualified "to be attorney general at a time like this."

In 2003, Young founded the Andrew Young Foundation, an organization meant to support and promote education, health, leadership and human rights in the United States, Africa and the Caribbean.

From February to August 2006, Young served as the public spokesman for Working Families for Walmart, an advocacy group for the retail chain Walmart. Young resigned from the position soon after a controversial interview with the Los Angeles Sentinel, in which, when asked about Walmart hurting independent businesses, he replied, "You see those are the people who have been overcharging us, and they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs."

In 2007, GoodWorks Productions released the documentary film Rwanda Rising, about Rwanda's progress since the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Young also served as the film's narrator. Rwanda Rising premiered as the opening night selection at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2007.

An edited version of Rwanda Rising served as the pilot episode of Andrew Young Presents, a series of quarterly, hour-long specials airing on nationally syndicated television.

On January 22, 2008, Young appeared as a guest on the television show The Colbert Report. Host Stephen Colbert invited Young to appear during the writers' strike, because, in 1969, Young and Colbert's father had worked together to mediate a hospital workers' strike. Young made another appearance on The Colbert Report on November 5, 2008, to talk about the election of Barack Obama to the presidency.

Young co-wrote and co-produced the 2010 documentary film Change in the Wind, about the friendship between Gone with the Wind (1936) author Margaret Mitchell and civil rights leader Benjamin Mays, who was the president of the traditionally black Morehouse College; Mitchell became a major benefactor of the institution. The documentary also revealed the friendship between Mitchell and actress Hattie McDaniel, who played Mammy in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind.

In 2014, the Tourism office of the Bahamas commissioned Jamaal Rolle to paint a portrait of Andrew Young to give him as a gift during a conference where he was the special guest.

On January 19, 2015, Young gave the keynote address at Vanderbilt University's Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Day. The theme was "Dismantling Segregation: Race, Poverty, and Privilege", and Young spoke about his experiences in Selma, stories of traveling with King, and his advice to the next generation of leaders.

Young served on the board of the Trumpet Awards Foundation and was a cofounder of Bounce TV, which acquired the Trumpet Awards in 2016.

On May 13, 2019, Young gave the keynote address at Emory University's spring commencement ceremony.

On May 29, 2020, Young remarked on the protests in Atlanta in reaction to the murder of George Floyd. He stated that riots, violence, and looting "hurt the cause instead of helping it".

Young is co-chairman of Rodney Cook Sr. Park along with National Monuments Foundation president Rodney Mims Cook Jr. This peace park is located in the Vine City neighborhood on Atlanta's westside and has a strong civil rights focus.

In 2023, Young launched the "Andrew Young HBCU Scholarship Program" funded by McGraw Hill Education in partnership with the Institute of World Politics Chair of Law and Human Rights, Matthew Daniels and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. The scholarship is awarded to students who "demonstrate the vision and leadership potential to be an ambassador for the unifying, non-violent principles of Dr. King and Ambassador Young, rooted in respect for the fundamental dignity, rights, and equality of all human beings." Young also endorsed a companion bible study for those seeking to apply Dr. King's teachings to improving their communities.

Following a reading from the Book of Ephesians, Young delivered the homily at the state funeral service for Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral on January 9, 2025.

On March 1, 2026, Young traveled to South Carolina to speak with University of South Carolina Upstate's Bennie Harris for the monthly Below the Line feature. On March 2, 2026, Young spoke at a private memorial service for Rev. Jesse Jackson at the South Carolina State House in Columbia, South Carolina. On March 22, 2026, Young spoke at the funeral service of civil rights activist Bernard Lafayette, held at Tuskegee University Chapel in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Young criticized the Roberts Court's decision in Louisiana v. Callais (2026) for striking down part of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.