Elevate Youth staff kicked off their program to a great start!
Elevate Youth is youth-led and focusing on preventing substance use disorder in communities affected by the War on Drugs. Staff hope to accomplish the goals through arts-based activities (e.g., poetry, dance, music, and murals) and increase youth’s leadership and policy advocacy skills. Youth will drive the direction of the program with staff supporting the strategies they find will best help their community. The month of January was dedicated to researching the target neighborhood hubs, learning about the War on Drugs, and building new partnerships.
Community Action Partnership of Orange County (CAP OC) is one of 32 organizations selected for a second round of funding. Elevate Youth’s overarching goal is to reduce the school to prison pipeline by 5% concluding the 3-year grant. The three target cities, Anaheim, Orange, and Santa Ana, work with the respective centers, Anaheim Independencia FRC, El Modena FRC, and Southwest Community Center.
A total of three new partnerships were created with Project SAY, United Way, and the LGBTQ Center with future collaborations in mind. After an inspiring meeting with the LGBTQ Center and learning about their success and vision for their program, staff decided to commence their first event. Staff are working to finalize the details for their first youth listening session to begin recruiting members. Despite staff being new to primarily working with youth and substance use prevention, great momentum was created and will be continuing well into the month of February.