Mission

YLI builds the leadership skills of youth to identify and champion community change on social justice issues related to young people in the areas of health equity, environmental prevention, economic justice, and educational equity.

What We Do

OUR MODEL:
• As a leader in the field of youth development, YLI is building the skills of young people to identify and influence public policy and create positive community change. Over the past year, YLI has supported 34 youth-led policy, advocacy, and media campaigns.
• YLI is cultivating engaged and dynamic young leaders today in order to create a more equitable and sustainable society tomorrow.
• Our model is grounded in a youth development framework that employs evidence-based approaches and emphasizes the importance of healthy adult-youth partnerships.

91% of youth respondents surveyed agreed that they “had the opportunity to build and practice skills in my program.”

WHERE WE WORK:
• For over 20 years, YLI has sparked the leadership of young people to solve pressing issues in their communities. With offices in San Francisco, San Mateo, Fresno, and Marin, YLI is positioned to connect the San Francisco Bay Area and California’s Central Valley.
• YLI also has a national reach, providing capacity-building services through training, technical assistance, research, and evaluation to 83 organizations and groups across the country through our National Consulting Services in 2012-13.

81% of youth agreed that, “my program has helped to create some type of positive change in our community.”

WHO WE SERVE:
• YLI engages historically-marginalized youth in becoming civic leaders. Currently, 92% of youth served by YLI are people of color, and nearly 60% are from low-income backgrounds.
• Since its founding, YLI has worked with over 80,000 young people in over 200 communities nationally and abroad.