Youth United for Community Action

Youth United for Community Action

Youth United for Community Action is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization.

"Locked out of the legal means of material survival, looked down upon by predatory politicians and police, left with the least relevant educational opportunities, talked at with contempt and not talked to with love-- is there any question why such youth are alienated?... 

They look at the lives they live and see not "civil rights progress", but a drumbeat of civil repression by a state at war with their dreams.

Why the surprise?

This is not the lost generation....

They are the children of the L.A. rebellion, the children of the MOVE bombing, the children of the Black Panthers, and the grandchildren of Malcolm; far from lost, they are probably the most aware generation since Nat Turner's; they are not so much lost as they are mislaid, discarded by this increasingly racist system that undermines their inherent worth. They are all potential revolutionaries, with the historical power to transform our dull realities.

If they are lost, find them." 
Mumia Abu Jamal -- Journalist, Black Panther, Political Prisoner

ENTER

 

ORGANIZING FOR SELF-DETERMINATION AND JUSTICE

Slide to see our organizing campaigns

640_romanynotall copy.jpg

As a community, East Palo Alto has a rich history of movement. It is a history borne out of struggle and the self-determined imagination of the Black Power movement that struggles led by other peoples of color are also driven by. One wouldn't think that driving through our city now, East Palo Alto was once filled with Nairobi schools, community centers, shops, and villages that raised young people to be proud of their roots -- whether you're Black, Latino, and/or Pacific Islander. Many of those cultural institutions are gone and in their place are brownfields, empty lots, contaminated land, and/or businesses that seem to cater more to our richer neighbors than to the people of our community.

But the spirit of organizing is well and alive in our community. These are the footsteps that young people from YUCA follow in order to carve our own paths. Young people from YUCA are principled fighters and leaders who put our words and ideals to action. Since 1994, YUCA youth have taken on pressing community issues - whether it is environmental racism, affordable housing, tenant rights, immigrants rights, or juvenile justice . Through intense leadership development that is grounded in real-time community organizing, young people at YUCA prove that youth are not just the promise of the future, but all the possibilities of the present.

To join our campaigns, email Kenia Najar, Program Director. 

 

Click below to see our previous reports, presentations, and publications. 

Presentation by Youth United for Community Action, Urban Habitat, Public Advocates and NonProfit Housing Association on "Protecting Communities, Securing Benefits"