San Jose Conservation Corps

Charter school, provide vocational and academic training for at-risk youth

The youth liberation movement (ylm) is a fiscally sponsored program of the sjcccs. Ylm is a system change initiative led by young people and supported by adult allies. Ylm was developed based on two ideas: 1) we cannot program our way out of structural racism and inequity; and 2) those with the expertise of lived experience those with the most to gain or lose by systems success or failure must be involved in cocreating the solutions. Ylm provides leadership training and experiential learning opportunities to young leaders who have experienced systems and/or who are from historically excluded communities and identities, and then embeds these young leaders into organizations, groups, and initiatives that welcome their views and leadership to support the ability of public systems to hear from and respond to the perspectives of young people.