The gentrification of the Mission District brought a "gang list" that affected young people in a 60-block radius, limiting their freedom of movement and association. Vicente Garcia used his 2007 Young People For fellowship to organize the community to stop the gang list.
Young People For Team
Fellowship Department
Zach is the Fellowship Program Manager for YP4. Zach is a proud 2007 YP4 Fellow and former Steering Committee member. He was responsible for managing our 2009 fellowship class that was comprised of 150 leaders on 86 campuses in 29 states. As an active student leader at Florida State University, he served as the director of the Pride Student Union, where he helped to establish the LGBTQ Student Resource Center. In this capacity, he also co-founded and served as chief organizer for the Coalition for an Equitable Community, an alliance of students and organizations dedicated to expanding the university's nondiscrimination policy. During this time, Zach also worked for Refuge House, a local domestic violence and rape crisis center, where he helped develop a social justice program for college-aged participants.
William is the Fellowship Associate at YP4. As a campus leader at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, he held many leadership positions including vice president of the Black Student Union and Resident Assistant. William was elected the first openly gay and second person of color as the Vice President of the student body. He also served as the National Queer Student Coalition Chair for the United States Student Association. Upon graduation, William received a fellowship with the Center for Community Change where he worked to register voters in Northern Virginia. He also serves as an online peer educator for Advocates for Youth, a non-profit that works on adolescent reproductive sexual health issues.
Sakeena Gohagen is a Fellowship Associate at Young People For. She is a graduate of The Florida State University with a Bachelor's degree Sociology and African American Studies. Sakeena is an alumni of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and a member of Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honorary. She is also an alum of the United State Student Association, where she served for 2 years on the National Board of Directors for the United States Student Association, as well as a Grassroots Organizing Weekend Trainer, and campus organizer for the 2008 election cycle. Sakeena is an alum of YP4's 2009 class and is excited to support the fellows and alumni in efforts to forward to young progressive movement.
Advanced Leadership & Alumni Department
Joy Lawson is the Advanced Leadership & Alumni Program Manager at YP4. Joy began her career as a student organizer at the University of Kansas. She worked with local organizations to ensure Kansas youth received medically accurate sex education by campaigning local and state school boards. For her work on Sex Education Joy was awarded the Generation-to-Generation Chapter Leadership Award and soon after joined the staff at Choice USA as a National Field Associate and later as the Midwestern States Field Coordinator. At Choice USA she worked to build a stronger progressive movement by training and developing a diverse base of young reproductive justice leaders. Joy is excited to continue her work in leadership development through the YP4 Alumni Network.
Paloma Ibañez
Paloma Ibañez is the Advanced Leadership & Alumni Associate at YP4. She is a 2007 YP4 fellow and a graduate of Northern Arizona University (NAU) with a degree in Environmental Studies. Her academic focus in sustainability, community, and biocultural diversity, lead to her involvement in the student environmental caucus where she collaborated with students, faculty and staff to foster a “green” community at NAU. Projects she worked on include helping establish a sustainable cafe that uses local products in campus dining and creating a short film highlighting green initiatives to incoming students. She was president of her community service sorority which emphasizes mentorship of youth, women and under-represented communities. Paloma is excited to be a part of the YP4 team and looks forward to growing the YP4 community.
Fall Interns
Daniel Leon recently graduated from Seminole State College of Florida with his Honors Diploma. Daniel Leon is an alumnus of the 2010 Young People For Fellowship Class. He spends much of his time organizing his blueprint for social justice, Move Your Feet, Feed the Need. He has served as the Executive Vice-President of the Pi Lambda chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the largest community college honors society in the nation. In the last months he has had the pleasure of being named an All-Florida Academic Team Member, a Gold Coca-Cola Scholar, a Guiswhite Scholar, 2011 Jack Kent Cooke Scholar, and was recently awarded the Distinguished Chapter OfficerAward at the Phi Theta Kappa International Convention in Seattle, WA. He aspires to one day be the president of a non-profit organization that aids in international policy changes to achieve his goal of making a positive change in the world. This fall he will be attending American University to pursue a B.A. in International Studies, as well as a B.A. and M.A. in Arts Management with a non-profit concentration.