African Village Youth Model Program
Support Our African Village Youth Model Program
Previously known as the African Youth Drug Program since 2019, WSCACL’s Evergreen Youth Warriors grew from 5 youth to 25 youth/young adults from King, Snohomish, and Pierce County and 7 African communities.
The age range is 8 years old thru 20 years old. Twenty-five (25) youth are divided into four groups that meet twice a month. There are youth leaders in each of the 4 groups.
WSCACL uses an intergenerational African village model within the program to incorporate African culture by including communication and coordination between the community leaders, young adult coaches, youth leaders, youth members, and parents. In African culture, each “relative” in the age group closest to the youth can communicate most effectively and influence them better than the adults. Young adults have better sway over teenagers, teenagers over middle-school aged youth, etc.
In terms of adults, Aunties and Uncles (often their respective community leaders or other parents) have stronger influence than parents do over African youth.
A prime example of how more effective the African Village Youth Model Program works comes from an impact story from WSCACL Young Adult Coach Ezana Yassin:
“Salaat & Saad are brothers that were not too active in the program, initially. They had prior obligations to their lives and did not warm up as much with everyone else (as kids do sometimes!).
When it came to our Environmental Justice Advocacy trip to Olympia, WA, settling into the hotel and turning on some Basketball, Youth Leader Brook & I quickly seen the reception to basketball and proceeded to talk on the subject before rambling about a plethora of other things.
The next day, I saw their cheeriness and willingness to open up to others. So I continued to rave on about the next time the WSCACL Youth would meet and they volunteered to take meeting minutes as well as help Coach Martha with bringing food and materials into our meetings.”
Your donation will cover the cost of:
- Young adult coach stipend
- Youth leader stipends
- Youth stipends
- Leadership development and program materials
- Washington State intergenerational outdoor activities and field trips
After the youth field trip to Spokane in September 2024, youth and families that participated asked for more trips to Washington’s historic and outdoor sites as it was most participants first field trip away from the Seattle, WA area.