Northern California YMCA Youth and Government

Growing the next generation of civically engaged Californians

Youth & Government (Y&G) is an experiential learning program for high school students. By modeling California’s legislature and courts, participants have the opportunity to build skills such as critical thinking, persuasive speech and writing, project management, and collaboration. Our program is rooted in the YMCA’s core values of Caring, Honesty, Respect, and Responsibility, and believes in the importance of servant leadership and media literacy to a healthy democracy.

Our goal is to grow the next generation of civically engaged Californians. Civically engaged Californians recognize the importance of:

  • Civic Knowledge: They understand the structure and function of government.
     
  • Civic Awareness: They can identify the major issues facing their communities.
     
  • Civic Action: They are equipped with the tools they’ll need to make change in their community.

The program is offered through the collaborative effort of 5 Northern California YMCA Associations.  Participants meet weekly with their local delegations and roughly once per month as a collective group from September through March.  Due to Covid-19 all programming for the 2020-2021 year will be virtual. 

Conference Dates: 

November 8 | December 13 | January 10 | February 28 | March 6 and 7

For more information and to register, please follow the links below to your local YMCA delegation.