$30,000 /2012, 2013
East Palo Alto, California
Annie Loya, Director
Website: www.youthunited.net
Renewal grants of $30,000 in 2012 and 2013 will assist YUCA in providing a safe space to develop and support a core of young people in East Palo Alto to organize on environmental, economic justice and immigrant rights issues in East Palo Alto, CA. Over the next year, YUCA will organize to include community input around issues of housing, employment and environmental justice in current City planning and make community input a formal process in the development of the City’s General plan. YUCA is also organizing young people to stop the unfair practice of ICE holds on juveniles in nearby San Mateo County, creating economic opportunities for undocumented youth, and supporting the larger national, statewide, and regional efforts for immigrant rights. Last year, YUCA won the approval of the Environmental Impact Report to increase housing and community space, rent control for the largely low-income westside, won a commitment from Menlo Park to identify more affordable housing sites and won the formation of an East Palo Alto Board of Supervisors subcommittee to review ICE Holds policy. YUCA is an active participant in the Empower, Transform and Build EPA Coalition (ETB-EPA), the San Mateo County Coalition for Immigrant Rights, and the California Table. In addition, YUCA helped convene a group of youth-serving organizations in East Palo Alto who are committed to leadership development to explore how the groups can support each other’s work.