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A NOTE FROM OUR LEADERSHIP |
| | Dear Friends,
This is a stressful time for everyone. But amidst the public health crisis, our staff has stayed on the front lines of providing support to our community's most vulnerable young people.
During the months of March, April, and May, City Youth Now has provided direct aid and support to 109 foster care and justice involved families that have been affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Direct aid has involved grocery vouchers, cleaning supplies, transportation support, and other critical need items. Everyone understands the anxiety of getting basic things these days, with long lines at the grocery store, and the wearing of masks and the scarcity of some things. For low-income families, the anxiety is multiplied many times.
Our internship program currently has 9 youth enrolled. All of the youth have continued to earn their paycheck by working from home. Jocelynn, CYN's wonderful Program Coordinator, has moved all of the programming to digital platforms and we have had many volunteers support by hosting professional development workshops.
With the closing of all SFUSD schools, youth housed in juvenile hall have been left a huge gap in their day. We have been able to provide puzzles, arts and craft supplies and outdoor sporting equipment to help those youth manage their time positively.
The City Youth Now community is compromised of people from all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. That is inevitable when an organization lasts for 70 years. We believe that our work improves the way people understand each other and treat each other. And there is so much more work to do.
None of this work is easy, but it is critical that we continue to support this community. Please help us with a donation if you can. This is a critical time for us. Thank you for supporting City Youth Now.
Kind Regards,Charles Higgins President of the Board of Directors City Youth Now charleshiggins@cityyouthnow.org
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| | | The tragic death in Minnesota of George Floyd-and everything that has followed are reminders that we still have a lot of work to do. The Staff and Board of City Youth Now remain dedicated to our mission to provide programs and services that promote stability, personal-growth, and long-term success for youth in the San Francisco community. 96% of the youth that we serve are young people of color and we are committed to continue to uplift them and provide space and opportunity to advocate for their individual needs.
Ronesha Jackson Program and Administrative Manager |
| | | The recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others have sparked outrage within the community. We understand that actions speak louder than words. Which is why City Youth Now has continued to attempt to meet the needs of our youth, who are predominantly youth of color. Part of City Youth Now's goal is to ensure that our youth make a healthy transition back into their communities, and offer the resources and support systems needed to achieve their goals. Change begins with our youth, who we continue to advocate for.
Jocelynn Esteban Program Coordinator |
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| | Career Exploration Workshop |
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In February, we held our first Career Exploration Event. Youth housed inside Juvenile Hall and youth in foster care and on probation, were able to learn about various careers that do not require a 4 year college degree. They were provided the opportunity to network with representatives from varied career paths and explore their options.Thank you to all of the volunteers who hosted a table and came out to speak to our youth about their work.
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| A special thanks to those who made this event a success: Didier Perez David-Freelance Photography Local 40 Roofing Caken Cuts Barber Shop The San Francisco Fire Department Sunset Youth Services Mission Bit H.E.L.P Old Skool Cafe Success Centers JVS Mission Hiring Hall
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| | We started our spring strong with an amazing collaboration with City Surf Project. We began a 5- Week Saturday Surf Camp group. Although we had to halt this programming three weeks in, we hope to be able to resume as soon as it is safe. The youth had very positive feedback and were so excited about learning to surf and spending time at the beach. |
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| Young Professional's Board Virtual Fundraiser |
| In April, the members of our Young Professionals Board hosted a virtual game night/happy hour fundraiser. People from all over, came together for a fun night of Settlers of Catan. It was great seeing everyone come together in support of City Youth Now. Thank you to our Young Professionals: Ben, Mike, Shanel, Jessica,Alicia, and Hayley, for putting together such a successful event during this time. If you would like to get more information about the YP Board, or you would like to get involved, reach out to info@cityyouthnow.org. |
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Personal Empowerment Program |
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| The Personal Empowerment Program continues to receive overwhelming requests in response to community need during this crisis. Fortunately, we have been able to respond quickly and efficiently. We would not have been able to meet this community need without the support of the City Youth Now community-donors, grantors, social workers, case managers, and probation officers. In May, we were able to provide Mother's Day self-care gifts to 75 mothers and caregivers of foster and justice involved youth. For the past few months, these caregivers have had the increasing responsibility of helping their families adjust to a time of uncertainty. We knew that a small acknowledgement of the hard work, would be beneficial to the whole family. Check out this response that we received from social worker S. Gomez:
"I dropped off the Mother's Day gift bags on Saturday and there were teary eyes. They were all so appreciative of the thought. One of the mothers, this was her first Mother's Day gift ever. Thank you for serving our clients" |
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Youth Partnering for Education and Employment |
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| Virtual Internship Program |
| The YPEE Internship Program, continues to run virtually despite the current circumstances. Youth interns are continuing to receive a paycheck by participating in our virtual workshops and online assignments and projects. These opportunities for work, all focus on professional development, as well as career exploration. We are so proud of our interns who have adjusted to working remotely. We know this is a large transition for them, but we are so grateful for the hard work they are continuing to put into their internship. |
| | Congratulations Class of 2020 |
| We would like to say congratulations to all of the foster and justice-involved youth who are graduating this year! This is such a huge accomplishment and we are so proud of each one. In collaboration with STEPS, we provided a graduation celebration bag full of goodies, gift cards and positive words for their next chapter of life. We'd also like to say thank you to Hot Sox for donating some cool socks to add. |
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| | Black History Month Event |
| Youth housed in Juvenile Hall had a special Black History Month Event thanks to the San Francisco African American and Historical Society. Ms. Marisa Williams and Mr. Al Williams presented a video and spoke about the history of voting and the migration of African Americans and to San Francisco. 17 youth took part in this celebration. |
| | We recognize that during this time it can be difficult to find ways to stay busy, especially for youth. Youth housed inside juvenile hall were provided educational and recreational activities to help pass the time. Over the past three months we have provided a number of board games, puzzle and other activites along with funding for group projects. If you would like to donate a book, game or some art supplies, please take a look at our Amazon Wish-list. |
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| | | | City Youth Now was founded on a vision of community action and working collaboratively to support the local community. Recently, we have joined forces with Simply the Basics to ensure that youth have access to basic hygiene products. We now have soap, tooth brushes, toothpaste, deodorant, and other basic-necessities on-hand to provide to youth as needed. We have also started a haircut program in collaboration with Caken Cuts. Randy and his team are accepting youth referred from our program to get a full-service hair cut. We recognize that feeling good goes hand in hand with doing good. |
| | As our internship program has moved virtually, so have our amazing volunteers. We've had a number of them who have donated their time to host professional development workshop for our interns via zoom. We are so lucky to have had volunteers from all over the world, come together and make an impact on our youth.
A Special Thanks To: Margot Daiber Tina Pinedo Silvia Vieira Kalena Meyer Hugh McFall Jenne Johnson Ryan Connor Shukre Ahmed Megan Runyon Abigail Schoenheimer (Australia) Caroline Lindsay Tatari
Salesforce |
| | | | | | | | Special Keynote Speaker: Mayor London Breed |
| | | We are still seeking virtual volunteers with professional experience to a host 30 minute to 1 hour digital workshop via zoom (or some other communication platform). Topics of these workshops could be anything related to early professional development such as:
Working from home best practices Email Writing Resume Review
Discuss Your Own Personal Career Interview Skills
If you are interested in volunteering, please reach out to our Program Coordinator, Jocelynn, at jocelynn@cityyouthnow.org
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| | | Before you go, don’t forget to follow us on social media for local news and updates on foster care and juvenile justice.
Visit us online http://www.cityyouthnow.org/ | Follow us at: |
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