Coro’s District Youth Leadership Academy currently provides leadership and civic engagement training to 23 high school students from San Francisco’s Districts 1 and 7, in partnership with the SF Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families; District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan, and District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar.
Since launching in February, each cohort has met weekly to explore and support their peers’ emerging leadership styles and build skills in collaboration, communication, and critical thinking.
Youth Fellows interview numerous local leaders to gain their insights into local governance, field expertise, and personal leadership journeys. Special thanks to Supervisors Chan and Melgar and their staffs for their support. (See below for a comprehensive list of our fantastic interview guests and supporters).
Youth Fellows also develop a Community Action Project (CAP) as a capstone to their participation in the program. District 1 Youth Fellows are working to raise awareness of financial assistance programs that increase the accessibility of community farmers markets. District 7 Youth Fellows are working to empower the city’s AAPI community in the #StopAAPIHate campaign, curating relevant and local safety and educational resources on their platform, daresf.org.
Here’s what a few Youth Fellows have to say about their experience:
“[My greatest accomplishment as a Fellow] is honestly getting overwhelming support for my Community Action Project pitch, and then challenging myself in my leadership and teamwork skills, as well as facing my fears of inadequacy and being a supported leader in developing and bringing our project to fruition.”
“My greatest accomplishment from my time in the District Youth Leadership Academy was coming up with an idea for our Community Action Project. … I wanted to find a way to involve the people of District 7 … After doing some research, I was able to think of a plan that could help the local businesses in District 7 and I’m proud of that.”
“I think seeing how passionate everyone was about improving society is very inspiring and actually being able to make a tangible resource to help the issues we face was motivating and also fun.”
We hope you’ll join us in celebrating our phenomenal Youth Fellows! To learn more about their Community Action Projects and to celebrate their work, join us at their virtual graduation on May 27 — RSVP here.
Thanks so much to these fantastic interview guests and supporters, many of whom are Coro alums themselves:
- Hataitip Feng, Senior Community Planning and Development Representative, U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.
- Aisha Kennedy, Senior Enforcement Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- Shereen D’Souza, Environmental Specialist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- Jenny Lam, Commissioner on the SF Board of Education.
- Laura DeTar, Executive Director at FreshApproach.
- Margaret Smither-Kopperl, Manager at the Lockeford Plant Materials Center, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
- Giuliana Blasi, Youth Development Program Manager, Ecology Center.
- Lila Carrillo, Legislative Aide, Office of Supervisor Myrna Melgar.
- Angelina Yu, Legislative Assistant, Office of Supervisor Connie Chan.
- Sara Russell, Director, SF Federal Executive Board.
- Monica EO’Mailani Flores, Youth Empowerment Coordinator & Senior Program Specialist, SF Department of Children, Youth and Their Families.
Stay tuned for more updates about Coro’s youth programs!
Alexis Llamas, Program Manager and Trainer, works in partnership with the programs team to deliver innovative leadership development programs for youth, in addition to supporting other programs. Alexis brings fourteen years of experience supporting programming through data-driven program design, coordinating community resources and partnerships, and facilitating participant leadership and self-advocacy.
Interested in a Coro program? Find more here.
