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Dear Friends,
We hope you are finding time to get outside, rain and shine, to enjoy this incredible spring. It's YES's busiest season of the year, with day trips, overnights, leadership activities, and more taking place every week. We're proud to be serving our Richmond youth and families with a wide range of activities that build confident, resilient leaders whose voices and contributions strengthen our community.
In this newsletter, we're delighted to feature a part of our Youth Leadership Pathway that may be new to you: the Youth Engagement Team. The YET is a cohort of eight Camp-to-Community teens who show extraordinary leadership potential, and have committed to a full year of making positive change together under the guidance of YES's Youth Engagement Specialist.
We're also excited that as Summer Camp registration gets under way, our second year of Camp Days are in full swing: read on to see what our campers are up to this spring, and about ways you can get involved.
Most Sincerely,
Eric Aaholm, Executive Director
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YES's Youth Engagement Team: Leadership in Action
YES's Camp-to-Community program includes a cohort of teens known as the Youth Engagement Team (YET), who meet every Wednesday with YES's Youth Engagement Specialist and dive deep into community health issues that are affecting their lives. Through a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project, these eight teens work to understand and address the issue they select. Based on social justice and youth development practices, YPAR projects train youth to conduct systematic research
to improve their lives and communities.
This year, the YET cohort is taking their work to a powerful new level: they are now
facilitating a YPAR project as peer educators at Helms Middle School. Their goals are to educate the Helms students about the health benefits of drinking water instead of sugar sweetened beverages; create real change by getting a water bottle filling station installed at the school; and promote healthy hydration through a peer-led multimedia campaign.
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The Youth Engagement Team teens are showing incredible leadership, motivating change, and gaining essential life- and job-skills every week. YES's Youth Engagement Specialist Peter Flom shared the vision behind the endeavor: "
In C2C, we improve our own health and productivity
by exercising, using and servicing local parks, and choosing healthier food and drink options.
In
our community, obesity and type 2 diabetes are serious issues, so our teens are doing their par
t to provide solutions. Our goal is to inspire the Helms students we work with to create a systemic and environmental change in their school to increase access to and use of water instead of sugary drinks."
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After learning that there are 19 spoonfuls of sugar in his daily energy drink, one Helms decided to give these drinks up right away!
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Camp Days and Summer Camp Countdown!
YES Camp Days
are designed to connect our youth to Richmond parks, and to get them pumped up to return to camp in a few months. YES staff and volunteers team up with East Bay Regional Park District and our summer camp partners to conduct fun outdoor activities from fishing and hiking to team-building games and nature crafts, all within the local gem of Miller Knox Regional Shoreline. Two fun-filled Camp Days have taken place so far this spring, and two more are coming up in April. Our Camp Days will serve 200 YES youth this spring, and we are already seeing these youth come through the doors at YES to sign up for Summer Camp 2017! We're counting down the days 'til camp, and we know our youth are, too.
Highlights from the Camp Days thus far include camper Myron declaring it had been "the best hike I've ever been on!" and camper Azia successfully identifying the tracks of great blue herons, raccoons, and Canada geese near the pond.
And, last weekend campers and staff alike got a wonderful treat: our partners at Camp Jones Gulch led a leather-working activity for our youth, and one of the camps staff was
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Louis, a YES alumnus
who is now a full-time counselor at Jones Gulch, working to mentor the up and coming Counselors In Leadership Training (CILT) as well as the campers themselves. YES supported Louis to attend Camp Jones Gulch beginning in 2009, where he later became a CILT and gained the skills and experience to become a staff member. We are so proud of the path he's taken, and the part YES has played in that journey! Louis is a strong role model for our campers and teens, and is paving the way for others to follow his lead.
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Sound fun and rewarding? It is! YES has volunteer opportunities with Camp Days, weekend Family Camps, and other outings throughout the year. If you'd like to learn more, click here to connect with YES's Volunteer Coordinator.
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Save the Date: May 4th is the East Bay Gives Day of Giving
!
On May 4th, YES will be participating in East Bay Gives, an exciting 24-hour online giving blitz throughout the entire Bay Area. Last year we raised $4,000, and we hope to do it again!
You can turn a $20 donation into $4,000 through the many matches and cash prizes offered, and YES has a plan to make it happen! Stay tuned for details the in first week of May!
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"Being involved in C2C has influenced my leadership -
it makes me want to be a leader and a role model
.
"
STAY IN TOUCH:
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