April, 2012

 

Dear Friend of Youth Advocacy Center,

Almost two decades ago, we founded Youth Advocacy Center because we understood that system-involved youth have the desire and potential to be participating citizens in our community. Since then, we've worked with teens to create advocacy projects which have changed child welfare policies and practices; educated hundreds of youth development and other professionals about ways of better engaging youth; and advocated for more effective programs and policies for youth through publishing reports, articles, and books.

In recent years, we have spent a significant portion of our energy and resources directing program operations. Our innovative and well-received program model, the Getting Beyond the System® Self-Advocacy Seminar, teaches youth the self-advocacy skills that are fundamental to achieving education and career goals and gives communities a practical way to offer guidance to their young people. Most recently, we have demonstrated the success of the Seminar for youth on law school campuses, including Harvard, Columbia, Hofstra and New York Law School.

Given the success of those programs and after careful review, we have decided to refocus our efforts toward making self-advocacy education more widely available to young people. With that goal in mind, we plan to discontinue our direct involvement with program operations at the end of this semester and shift toward developing new strategies aimed at broader outreach. Indeed, we have begun consultations with many of our partners in this work, and expect in the coming months to have further news to share about this exciting time in our evolution. In the meantime, please explore this website to learn about our philosophy and past programs and for updates and any changes to contact information.

Thank you for your continuing commitment to improving the future of our young people.

Sincerely,

Betsy Krebs
Executive Director