Youth United for Change (YUC) is dedicated to developing young leaders in Philadelphia and providing them with training and tools to improve the quality of their education and communities.

YUC 15 Year Celebration

Welcome

Youth United for Change (Y.U.C) is an organization dedicated to developing young leaders in Philadelphia and empowering them to improve the quality of education and services in their communities to better meet their needs. This is done through a process of institution-based community organizing where a diverse group of young people comes together to identify common concerns and takes collective action to address them.

	Strawberry Mansion students speak at a community meeting dedicated to safety issues in schools and communities and present their work on improving standardized testing at Strawberry Mansion High School to build community support for their campaign.
	YUC students invite State Senator Shirley Kitchen to visit a successful small school, the South Bronx Academies in Career and Sports, in New York City as part of their campaign to break Olney up into small schools of no more than 400 students, grades 9 – 12.
	In their small schools campaign, Kensington High School students win a public commitment from Chief Academic Officer Dr. Thornton to support a community design process for the design of the Kensington High School small schools and a commitment to construct a fourth new small school for Kensington High School..
	Mastbaum High School students wage a campaign to improve discipline at their school, winning $40,000 for an in-school suspension program.

Y.U.C is building a broad-based, democratic organization with the power to hold school officials and government accountable to meet the needs of Philadelphia's youth. Y.U.C believes that every young person deserves a quality education that will enable them to have a variety of options upon graduation whether that be to attend college, further their training, pursue a fulfilling career or obtain a stable job.

Y.U.C organizes its members through chapters in neighborhood public schools. Currently, four such chapters exist: one at Kensington, Edison, Olney and Strawberry Mansion High Schools.

Characteristics and components of Y.U.C include:

• Strengthening relationships between youth;
• Developing leadership amongst youth;
• Ensuring youth decision-making within the organization
• Identification and definition of issues, concerns, plans and strategies by youth;
• Promoting racial harmony and cross-cultural understanding.

Leadership training for students includes:

• Public Speaking
• Planning and Running Meetings
• Negotiation
• Critical Analysis
• Relationship/Team Building
• Decision-making
• Problem solving
• Anti-Oppression Training: Understanding Racism, Classism, and Sexism
• Developing and Implementing Organizing Strategies
• Understanding the School System and the Role of Government in Education

Copyright © 2006 Youth United for Change