Youth Action Project

Youth Action Project\u2019s (YAP) Mission is to empower youth and young adults in the development of skills and habits needed for economic and social success.\n\nYAP\u2019s Vision is ALL youth graduate high school, transition to higher education and enter meaningful and gainful employment or entrepreneurial ventures by age 25. \n\nYAP\u2019s provides youth in under resourced communities the tools to obtain sustainable incomes, through accessing higher education, vocational training, building awareness of demand jobs, soft skills coaching and incubating entrepreneurial aspirations. YAP core values of civic awareness and responsibility build young leaders capable of advocating and organizing to provide a voice for their communities. \n\nIf San Bernardino County youth are to participate in the 21st Century Workforce, they must acquire the skills necessary to compete in a global marketplace where over 60% of all jobs available required post-secondary degrees. YAP provides structured opportunities for success at a critical age for high school Mentees, college aged Mentors, and Workforce participants. YLinc opens the opportunity for a unified youth voice, trained in outreach and coordination and able to supply needed services to governments and private businesses. \n\nYAP programming supports in-school youth not only to graduate from high school, but to be ready to access post-secondary education. Many high school participants see YAP as a partner in their continuing education and return to participate as Mentors. Mentoring enables college students to remain connected to their high school community while using the AmeriCorps stipend to support their college education. Completion of the required hours of AmeriCorps service enables Mentors to access scholarship funds. Utilizing AmeriCorps Members as Mentors to Opportunity Youth integrates programing and uses near peer or peer mentoring to reconnect youth to educational pathways or vocational training and employment.

YAP provides structured opportunities for success at a critical age for high school Mentees, college aged Mentors, and Workforce participants. YLinc opens the opportunity for a unified youth voice, trained in outreach and coordination and able to supply needed services to governments and private businesses. YAP programming supports in-school youth not only to graduate from high school, but to be ready to access post-secondary education. Many high school participants see YAP as a partner in their continuing education and return to participate as Mentors. Mentoring enables college students to remain connected to their high school community while using the AmeriCorps stipend to support their college education. Completion of the required hours of AmeriCorps service enables Mentors to access scholarship funds. Utilizing AmeriCorps Members as Mentors to Opportunity Youth integrates programing and uses near peer or peer mentoring to reconnect youth to educational pathways or vocational training and employment.\n\nThe three components of YAP programing \u2013 Young Scholars, Young Workers and YLinc are designed to community-build by providing youth and young adults with transformative experiences including:\n1. Young Scholar Near-peer mentoring that provides high school Mentees with support to stay in school, take college eligible classes, find a demand job career path, and apply to local colleges, community colleges or vocational schools.\n2. Young Scholar Mentoring positions paying sustainable stipends to college-aged Mentors, enabling them to build resumes with skills relevant to higher paying professional jobs, build professional networks vital to future employment, establish peer relationships with other service-oriented Mentors, bond with high school students and engage them in academics and civic projects, and access AmeriCorps scholarship programs to support their higher education.\n3. Young Worker Workforce Programming to Opportunity Youth providing support in the form of mentoring, tutoring, study skills training leading to the completion of the requirements for a secondary diploma or its recognized equivalent, or for a recognized post-secondary degree. This program provides paid work experiences leading to unsubsidized employment, supportive services, intensive case management and individual service strategies.\n4. YLinc Social Entrepreneur programming to ignite community champions, teach leadership skills and build future entrepreneurs, grow community engagement in underserved communities, enable youth to take their seat at the table to form youth-adult partnerships and build a comprehensive youth development system. This program provides the tools and skills necessary to provide input to governments and private businesses targeting the youth market.

YAP has spent 20 years building a foundation in the community, refining services, and connecting with parents, administrators, teachers and students. YAP programming is valued by students, parents, teachers, and community leaders who understand the long-term impacts of quality mentoring. Since its inception, YAP has continued to expand services to youth in San Bernardino County and grow from a staff of 2 to 11 full time staff and 4 part-time staff with 136 volunteers.\n\nYAP collaborates with local and national community-based organizations to improve educational outcomes, improve workforce development and build community leaders. YAP\u2019s headquarters is strategically co-located with Community Action Partnership of San Bernardino (CAPSBC). The co-location enables YAP staff to better understand the services offered by CAPSBC and promote building referral systems between the two organizations. \n\nAs a member of the AmeriCorps National Service Network, YAP built a multi-disciplinary partnership to leverage federal funding. YAP has maintained a 14-year partnership with SBCUSD, the City of San Bernardino, YVYLA, the City of Rialto, CaliforniaVolunteers, and Loma Linda University since 2006. The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians has contributed for 10 years.\n\nYAP is a member of the Inland Empire Education Justice Collaborative (IEEJC) along with COPE. The IEEJC emerged from the Irvine Foundation funding and engages a network of parents, community members, and students in a district-wide partnership effort designed to improve academic achievements for SBCUSD students.

YAP has expanded from serving 65 in-school students in 2007-2008 to over 750 in-school and opportunity youth in 2019-2020. YAP has achieved remarkable results with minimal financial resources through a dedicated network of volunteers, paid young workers, grassroots energy, community partnerships and dedicated leadership.\n\nSince 2007, YAP has connected over 5,000 high school students to positive adult role models, hired and trained over 450 local college students, provided over 230,000 work experience and community service hours; and provided over 88,000 hours of tutoring and mentoring services to high school students in schools identified as having some of the highest dropout rates in the state.\n\nIn 2017 YAP expanded paid work experience opportunities to include out of school Opportunity Youth and provides YAP an opportunity to track youth progression beyond high school. \n\nYOUNG LEADERS has evolved into Young Leaders Inc. (YLinc), a social enterprise business that YAP believes has great potential for success by providing a direct pathway to employment and a chance to impact social change through community outreach and coordination.