Safe Streets Campaign

Youth leading change youth leading change (ylc) is a free, out-of-school expanded learning program available to any high school youth in pierce county. Youth explore careers, build leadership and social-emotional learning skills and implement youth-led projects to improve their school and larger communities. Ylc strengthens protective factors for youth participants, an evidence-based strategy that supports prevention around violence, mental health and substance misuse disorders. The ylc program is active in the franklin pierce school district and works with local youth serving organizations to work with all high school youth regardless of school attendance. In 2023 we added a youth mental health initiative that is now a program called youth health is wealth. We have partnered with together tacoma to facilitate the program in salishan at the family investment center. Unduplicated youth served through youth leading change in classroom in 2024, was 32. Youth who participated in spring and fall campus cleanups were not counted. At health is wealth, there were 45 unduplicated youth over the course of the program in 2024.