Leadership Development + Wellness
Youth wellness is a crisis in the South Bay–we live in an area where our youth are encouraged to pursue hyper-individualism, are isolated by the suburban landscape, and are rarely given a substantive voice in their own lived conditions. Our programming makes a profound intervention into these norms. Youth report that SBYC is the one space in their lives where they can ask real questions, risk failure, be themselves, truly be collaborative and connected to peers, and learn how to be a leader away from a competitive local culture that narrows leadership down to individual achievement and college apps.
Most importantly, youth bring this orientation into other environments and take it forward into college and the workplace. SBYC youth open up, take risks, and learn to create space for themselves and their voices in the context of difficult life challenges!
Our leadership development model prioritizes 1:1 development plans and integrates exercises and reflections that emphasize skills like engaging in principled disagreement, dealing with rejection, managing uncertainty, facing failure, and experimenting creatively and collaboratively with others. Throughout their organizing work, youth are supported by staff and support their peers in developing resilience and a holistic sense of self grounded in community.
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Daria
“I can confidently say that SBYC has been transformative not only for my leadership development, but also my growth as a person. I have come to value abundance and vulnerability more than ever before, and it’s an understatement to say that CCS helped me crack my shell. The skills such as conflict resolution and affirmations of the self and others that we’ve learned in SBYC are not just essential to social justice work, but also to life.”
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Koa
“What I realized in youth organizing is that emphasis on healing justice, where it allows us to acknowledge the inequities and collective harm we face. With centering the needs of our community, we can better support one another.”
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Hilary
“The safe environment SBYC has built in my hometown motivated me to further my education in the ethnic studies department in Davis. Currently, I am an Asian American Studies major, and the support and care SBYC provides me motivates me to continue the same compassion and moral lineage on to my generation and so on, in addition to within the Asian American community.”
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Jason
“SBYC is an organization and a community that youth can attend for safety, inclusivity, and creativity. I believe we, as youth, should provide our voices, perspectives, and stories to the broader racial justice movements occurring now. Often, the viewpoints of youth are sidelined or assumed with politicians and lawmakers rarely asking us directly, so we should find or create outlets that we can utilize to carry our opinions and considerations into the debate.”