Friday Night Live Member Groups
Marin Youth Health Advisory Council
San Francisco Community Action Live
YO! Mateo (Youth Organizing San Mateo County)

Friday Night Live Member Groups

"It was fun! We learned what was going on in our community and educated our community about what we learned. We also got to work as a team, and as a team we accomplished a lot, had fun, and it felt good." - Friday Night Live group member

"It was good. YLI staff was helpful and we hope to do a service project next year. YLI kept in touch with our program. We loved the newsletter and having our poems published." - Friday Night Live advisor

Marin Youth Health Advisory Council

"My favorite part of my experience at YLI is hearing back from the people we speak to and sharing my ideas of how to effect change in their communities. I feel that I have the power to motivate people to take action in their community as I have done in mine." - Jes, MYHAC

"Doing community-service projects at the Youth Leadership Institute has opened up a world of opportunities for me. I have been able to work with adult leaders in the community, learn all about issues in Marin County, and meet tons of people motivated to change our community. I love doing community service because it makes a positive influence in my surroundings and I feel like I am making the would a better place to live in." - Lauren, MYHAC

"Community service is a good way to get in touch with your interests and meet people." - Caitlin, MYHAC

San Francisco Community Action Live

"SFCAL is remarkable to me because I have a chance to meet new people and say my ideas. I can work in this group to create laws in San Francisco. My best SFCAL moment was the time I went to the Tenderloin neighborhood to do my first merchant survey. I remember looking up and seeing pictures and advertisements of beautiful ladies holding beer bottles. I wrote it down. I went to the back and I saw malt liquor and I wrote it down. I saw that all juice was on the floor and they put alcohol in the refrigerator. I told my friends and they explained to me that they wanted to keep the alcohol cold and they didn't care about the juice." - Ha, 12th grade, Thurgood Marshall Academic High School

"SFCAL means a place where I learn so much from other people, where I improve my communication skills, where I meet other young people and where I can go and speak my mind." - Phyu Phyu, 12th grade, Thurgood Marshall Academic High School

"SFCAL means a place where youth come together to talk about the problems that SF has. It also means that youth can do stuff about the things that are bad that are happening in SF like the gun shootings or the drugs that are in SF. It also means that we can speak out about what we can change in SF." - Yammi, 7th grade, Martin Luther King High School

YO! Mateo (Youth Organizing San Mateo)

"I am involved in this project because I feel that I can help make a difference in San Mateo County. Stopping Big Tobacco is a very important subject to me." - Harry

"By being involved with this work, I feel proud and see the power of young people to make changes in their communities. We've shown that young people don't have to wait until they're adults to be leaders, instead, they can be, and are, leaders of today." - Ashley

“This year in YO!Mateo, we had many friendly memories.  Our group members always had something funny to say even though it would distract from the whole group.  From the meetings, when it was time to share about how our day was for check-ins someone always had a story to share. YO!Mateo has given us an opportunity to make a difference in the County and meet new friends.” - Angela

“YO!Mateo has continually improved our campaign for a stronger Tobacco Retail License, increasing community concern for a healthier environment for all.”
- Julian

“The challenge I had was trying to speak in front of people and YO!Mateo helped me with that.” 
– Anonymous, YO!Mateo member

“Tobacco policy (advocacy) was fun, but I wish we could have done more.” 
- Anonymous, YO!Mateo member

“Being a part of YO!Mateo has helped me... Be well informed about things in my community that most young people do not care about or know about.   I have never realized until now how the tobacco companies target youth to buy their products. I also work with a group of people that I actually enjoy working with, which doesn’t happen a lot for me.” 
– Julian, YO!Mateo member

“A major highlight was being representatives from YO!Mateo participated in Altria’s shareholder meeting 2 years in a row.  We used shareholder activism, participated in youth advocacy trainings, and staged a rally to protest Big Tobacco with youth around country.”
– Eddie

“ I have formed relationships with adults that I never thought I would.  I have been able to accomplish much more with these partnerships.   I have a passion for policy work and passion to help the next generation of YO!Mateo members achieve greater things.”
– Eddie