This year, we closed the 2013-2014 academic year saying good bye and good luck to 15 youth core members who have now graduated Bell Gardens High School and are now entering a new stage in their lives. Many have transitioned into the college life at UC, Cal State, and community college campuses still striving to maintain a supportive role for upcoming Youth in Action members.

With 2014-2015 year, Youth in Action kicked off the year with 15 classroom presentations bringing Environmental Racism in our neighborhoods to a total of 90 class periods and 850 students in Bell Gardens High School and Esteban Torrez High School combined. The hard work payed off when a total of 100+ students attended the first Youth In Action Meeting at Bell Gardens High School.

Utilizing the energy that youth provide, we were able to bring the EYCEJ message to Ciclavia where 50+ of our members attended carrying a banner reading “Stop Environmental Racism” from Bell Gardens, to East LA and Boyle Heights.

As we build for next year, we continue to grow into East Los Angeles where youth members from Esteban Torrez High School have already begun to have conversation around establishing a Youth in Action club in their campus. We are excited to see where this academic year still has in store for us and continue with the vision of building strong youth leaders in our community.