Youth In Power

Young people are not our future leaders of our community. We are leaders now. Young people are vital parts of our community, and our experience, insight and wisdom must help to shape our future and the futures of coming generations.

All too often young people in Bayview Hunters Point are portrayed as problems to be fixed. Gangs, poor performance in San Francisco's schools and sky-high youth unemployment are all blamed on young people. But young people are valuable resources in our neighborhood who are ready to step into leadership.

The challenge for older folks is to support young people to develop and voice their vision for their neighborhood.

Did you know?

• San Francisco has the lowest number of young people (people under the age of 18) of any major city in the United States.

• The real unemployment rate for young people aged 18 to 24 in Bayview Hunters Point is almost to 60%.

• Corporate developers looking to gentrify neighborhoods like Bayview often use young people as a wedge, promising to offer jobs, in order to break-down resistance to development projects which will not benefit the community.

POWERful Young People
POWER's Youth in Power (YIP) reaches out to youth in high schools and community centers, and use their own stories and experiences to develop a vision for Bayview Hunters Point- and for the City- that can offer them and all people real opportunities for economic security and emotional and social growth.

POWERful Solutions
Although the project is just a year old, the young people of YIP are moving forward with gusto to:

• Cultivate their ability to step up as the next generation of leadership in Bayview Hunters Point, ready to achieve their vision through community involvement and organizing.

• Design and conduct workshops to engage youth around issues of displacement, violence and community participation, reaching over hundreds of students and other youth.

• Deepen relationships with ally organizations throughout the Bay Area and across the country.

POWERful Campaigns
POWER members are engaged in several exciting and important campaigns, including:

• Stop the Violence, Increase the Safety: After conducting surveys with hundreds of other young people in Bayview, YIP members will launch a campaign to make positive changes in their neighborhood. Based on early results, it seems that the young members will be developing proposals to stop the high level of violence and to increase the community and environmental safety in the neighborhood.

• Telling a POWERful Truth: YIP members produced seven powerful video testimonials to convey their experiences growing up in Bayview and to describe their visions for their and the neighborhood's future. YIP members will be distributing these testimonials to establish their place as important leaders on community issues.