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Youth receive first-hand experience working in an office setting and often work on youth-driven advocacy campaigns, such as the Disability History Week Campaign and Taking Action for Accommodations. The YO! Volunteer Corps create connections for youth with adults with disabilities, as well as other youth volunteers. YO! Volunteer Corps members earn a stipend every month.

Meet a YO! Volunteer…

My name is Armand Bujanda. I am a 25 year old college senior at Cal Poly Pomona where I am currently studying Business Administration emphasizing in non-profit management. I also volunteer/intern at the Service Center for Independent Life (SCIL) which is the Independent Living Center (ILC) in my area. As a volunteer/intern, I work with the systems change advocate to understand how to advocate for others as well as myself. As part of my internship duties I also attended several board meetings. Attending board meetings lead to a position on the board at SCIL. As a board member, I plan on serving the interest of the youth and consumers. I have engaged with them in their Independent Living Skills (ILS) trainings by participating and facilitating some of the ILS trainings. This experience helped me understand how to work with people with various disabilities at once. As part of the YAC, my goal is to help lead others towards self-acceptance and to understand the intersectionality of disability and ethnicity. As part of this goal, I am working on starting a Latinos with Disabilities Support Group with my local ILC.

Youth Advisory Council (YO! YAC) Armand California Foundation for Independent Living Centers – Sacramento, CA

Youth Advisory Council

The YO! YAC is made up of 7 - 9 youth with disabilities across the state ranging in age from 16 - 28 that are familiar with the YO! program and want to use their leadership skills to make it even better. The YO! YAC provides valuable input on policy issues, community organizing campaigns and program priorities. They met at least once a quarter by phone or webinar and occasionally in-person. Youth are are interested are encouraged to apply.

Priscilla

Alexa

Tiffany

Sara

Armand

Alise

Ian

Youth Volunteer Corps

The YO! Volunteer Corps consist of 9 youth volunteers who work in local independent living centers in their community. YO! Volunteer Corps commit to at least 16 hours of work a month and receive a $100 stipend each month. Volunteer Corps members work for a minimum of 6-12 months at their placement site. Volunteer Corps members work on a variety of tasks, including YO! Organizing campaigns, in their local communities.

Youth can apply at any time to be a YO! Volunteer Corps member. However, placements are limited to funding and site availability.

Cami

Zofia

Youth Action Team

Youth are encouraged to volunteer for a YO! organizing campaign, working in their local communities. There is no time commitment and the amount of time spent on campaigns varies for each organizer. Campaign organizers do not receive a stipend. Meetings for each campaign are held by teleconference in afternoons or on weekends. These provide a chance to connect with youth from around the state! Each participant can do as little or as much as they want to support a YO! campaign, but everyone is involved in advancing the campaign in some way.

Currently, we have nearly 30 organizers working on the Taking Action for Accommodations campaign and 25 working on the Disability History Week campaign.

If you are interested in working on a campaign, please contact a youth advocate.