Youth Advocacy and Education

I hope to ensure YEA’s long-term success by using this grant to further our mission of eliminating youth violence. I believe that this grant would be of great value to our program. Although YEA is facilitated through the YWCA Monterey County, it continues to rely solely on the efforts and dedication of volunteers from the local colleges to operate the program. YEA depends on these volunteers to facilitate the sessions within the schools, to plan and organize all the content and lesson plans, as well as conduct outside outreach. Due to severe cuts in the YWCA’s budget, I will need this grant more than ever to secure all the supplies we need for our YEA school groups. YEA emphasizes art as an effective tool for facilitating discussions and difficult issues; therefore we need art supplies, multi-media tools, recreation equipment, and other resources for our groups. I am planning on using this $250 specifically for materials for the groups. Additionally, I hope to see YEA become a more prevalent influence within the local school districts. Currently, YEA is a school-based program run through four local public schools (middle and high school). The program was created two years ago and at the time had far more schools enrolled in its efforts. I would love the opportunity to use a portion of this grant to inform the local community of our mission and our efforts. To better reach out to the youth and continue to grow our program it is necessary to have updated brochures, fliers, and other materials to spread awareness of what YEA does and the opportunities that we provide to the community, without any financial obligation to them. I can also use these materials to expand our volunteer base and generate more interest for YEA from the schools. This grant will allow us to continue to provide youth violence prevention groups to our local schools and to focus on enhancing and expanding the program in the future.