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
Rebecca is the Director of YP4. A progressive young leader with extensive experience in community organizing and leadership development, Rebecca is passionate about empowering youth to affect change in their communities. Prior to joining YP4, she served as Program Manager for the District of Columbia Youth Advisory Council in the Executive Office of the Mayor, where she provided policy, leadership, and professional development opportunities to the youth council. She has also served as the Legislative Director for the United States Student Association (USSA). Rebecca has provided trainings to students nationwide and has been featured on C-SPAN, in the Washington Post, and the New York Times discussing higher education access and affordability issues. Rebecca comes to YP4 with extensive leadership training including the Women's Campaign School at Yale, the White House Project, and the Center for Progressive Leadership's Michigan Political Leaders Fellowship, among others. Rebecca is originally from Detroit and is a graduate of Northern Michigan University.
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.
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.