YPP programs create opportunities for high school students to develop as learners, teachers, leaders and organizers (LTLO) through a continuum of experiences across three areas of work: Education, Neighborhoods and Communities, and Education Policy and Advocacy. In each area of work, training, media and culture play a critical role in engaging and empowering participants with the tools to see and shape themselves and their communities in new ways.
YPP employs high school and college aged students to create high quality STEM based learning experiences for middle and elementary school students in school and community after school programs. YPP has used math, media and art and culture as tools for creating high quality learning environments that are creative, collaborative, and encourage citizenship. Through this work young people expand their identity and sense of possibility, while serving as role models for their younger peers and challenging society’s perceptions and expectations of them. Our education model revolves around older and/or more experienced peers working with younger and generally less experienced peers to create and collaborate in ways that are individually enriching, community building and culturally significant.
YPP creates spaces and experiences in neighborhoods and communities that promote learning, celebrate achievement, and strengthen connection and collaboration between students, parents, culture-makers/artists and community residents, organizations and institutions. Community events/celebrations and NeighborCircles serve as natural spaces for students and cultural artists to develop and exercise leadership, and are tools for community building and collective action.
YPP creates opportunities for young people, parents and culture-makers and community members to participate in conversations about local, regional, and national policies that impact the communities and environments they live in. YPP creates space to explore the issues and policies that affect them and their communities, and empowers them to develop their individual and collective voices and take action through local, state and national campaigns, coalitions and networks. These potentially transformative experiences offer the possibility of a shift in their orientation to and relationship with their local communities and the country as they expand their sense of responsibility and capacity to influence the health of our democracy.