Changeist

Big Citizen HUB will connect 236 diverse young people, ages 11-26, from all across Los Angeles for 22 Saturdays to learn about our communities and address local issues through service.

Changeist utilizes an apprenticeship approach, giving 18-26 year olds the skills and social capital needed to advance in youth work and non-profit spaces. We focus on hands-on experience, intentional learning opportunities, and significant time commitment to ensure youth leave our program with the experience needed to attract entry-level, well-paid positions in the workforce.

Changeist will pilot a model of mental health support that could be replicated by other out-of-school time organizations, that provides youth participants with easy access to a suite of high quality mental health services, free of charge. We are contracting a team of mental health professionals to support the learning of mentors and will be “on-call” for emergency and ongoing needs of youth, including counseling, mental health first aid training, and facilitated reflection for the community around impactful current events.

We immerse young people in a 6-month civic action experience, exploring the social justice issues they care most about. Over the next year, we will bring on 15 AmeriCorps members to engage 300 youth across Los Angeles, giving them space on Saturdays to talk about and address our most pressing issues, creating pathways for them to design and nurture a more just society.

We immerse young people in a 6-month civic action experience, exploring the social justice issues they care most about. Over the next year, we will increase impact by 50% through the implementation of AmeriCorps members into our current program model. By utilizing AmeriCorps members, we will engage 300 youth annually across Los Angeles, giving them space on Saturdays to talk about and address our most pressing issues, creating pathways for them to design and nurture a more just society.

We demand an equitable strategy and coordinated approach to comprehensive youth development, led by a city department focused on creating prosperity for all of LA’s young people.

We are working with a diverse group of young people from across Los Angeles who have talents, ideas, and energy that are waiting to be activated. We empower these youth to take action on issues in their community that are important to them. This proposal supports the expansion of our reach and impact in 2016, as we increase the size of our middle school program from 75 to 100 youth and launch our high school program with 75 youth.

This project is launching the first cohort of new leaders - our Big Citizens - beginning with 75 middle school students in January 2015.