Organization Description
YES believes that all youth deserve permanency — a safe, stable home and relationships with others who will support them, advocate for them and help them negotiate life’s challenges. It’s this belief that fuels their work, enabling youth to create futures that do not mirror their pasts. Serving Los Angeles youth of all races, genders, sexual orientations, and religions, YES’ residential programs ensure that youth are off the streets, free from abuse and working towards engaged and self-sufficient adulthoods. They also offer long-term aftercare to protect against future victimization, incarceration and homelessness.
Impact of SCE Support
As with all youth, runaway and homeless youth are deeply connected to technology; however, they are also particularly vulnerable to victimization through the tech that they use. Facilitated by members of YES’ case management staff, this project guides runaway and homeless youth through a systematic exploration of their technology use. Young people will learn how their actions online affect them, and how they can change their habits to ensure that their use of technology aligns with their long-term goals. Through this project, we hope that youth will build the tech skills they need to leverage technology to work towards self-sufficient futures and supportive permanent connections. Once the pilot is completed, it can be replicated for agencies serving runaway and homeless youth in Los Angeles and across the country.
YES is a member of SCE’s Youth Voice Challenge cohort. This group of exemplary organizations seeks answers to the question: How can young people inspire their peers to use technology in healthy ways and make digital spaces better for everyone? Learn more about the Challenge here.
Why We Invested
We are honored to support a project that serves a largely unmet need among runaway and homeless youth in Los Angeles. We hope that this project’s focus on a particularly vulnerable population will inspire our cohort and the field at large to think more deeply about how to ensure that youth-driven tech solutions truly work for everyone.
