2021 CA Special Election: Youth Rock the Vote!

2021 CA Special Election: Youth Rock the Vote!

Although the Liberated for Youth Empowerment (LYFE) program is fairly new it is already impacting communities in a positive way. Most of the LYFE youth members are not old enough to vote, but they are old enough to understand what is at stake and how this current 2021 Special Recall Election for Governor can impact their future. LYFE youth members have been participating in many late night phone banking, text banking, human billboarding, and mobilizing their own personal networks in between their school work and family time. They can be found most days of the week, including weekends, dancing with signs and screaming their hearts out urging thousands of passing cars on some of Kern, Tulare & Fresno’s busiest streets to vote. Lester Pineda, Kern County Youth member, says “It is important for our communities to go out to vote for a better future and to have our voices heard. We need to have our voices heard, especially for those members in communities of color and youth who are not able to cast their vote. We must vote for them.” 

It has been inspiring seeing adults and youth come together to motivate people to cast their ballots. Most importantly, they know that every interaction is one voter that they can encourage to get to the polls! Many look forward to the day that they can register to vote and cast their first ballot. This is because the youth are an integral part of the community and want to craft a future that is equitable and justice for all.

For more information about the DHF youth program Liberated Youth for Empowerment (LYFE) visit www.doloreshuerta.org/youthprogram/

DHF Youth Anna Hun Appointed to Fresno Youth Commission!

DHF Youth Anna Hun Appointed to Fresno Youth Commission!

“Just go for it,” is the motto that Anna Hun uses to describe what moved her from being a shy freshman at Duncan Polytechnical High School, to an engaged leader in her community. Anna credits much of her growth to the school’s ROTC and the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

Anna was born and raised in Fresno to immigrant parents from Cambodia. At 14, she connected to DHF’s Youth Program and it was clear that her experience and confidence were growing. “She was scared to talk when she first started doing phone canvassing for the Census,” highlighted youth organizer Cesilia Acevedo. In March 2020, Anna traveled to Washington, DC and met with Congressional Representatives TJ Cox, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

On April 8th, Anna was appointed as voting member of District 4 on Fresno’s Youth Commission by Councilmember Tyler Maxwell. The Fresno Youth Commission is responsible for advising Fresno City Council and the Mayor on policies and laws related to young people. Today, Anna’s leadership is giving voice to youth in Fresno and she wants you to know, she’s just getting started!

YFCEI Celebrating Black History 2021

YFCEI Celebrating Black History 2021

CALLING ALL YOUTH! Join Dolores Huerta Foundation Youth Family Civic Engagement Initiative on Friday, Feb 5th @ 5 pm PST for a Zoom event celebrating Black History Month! For more info, call your nearest organizer: #Tulare County – 5592716937, #Fresno – 5593176799, #Kern – 6613796559 #DHFYouth #YFCEI

DHF Youth Members Present: Youth Speak: Reimagining School Safety

DHF Youth Members Present: Youth Speak: Reimagining School Safety


Join the conversation! Dolores Huerta Foundation Youth Members Present: Youth Speak: Reimagining School Safety, TOMORROW Thursday, 10/08/2020 at 6 pm PDT via Zoom. As a part of the National Week of Action of Dignity in Schools Campaign, we invite you to join us in this special webinar where youth describe what a safe, positive climate means to them! It is time to listen to our youth!

***Translation provided ***

Register at: http://bit.ly/DHFYouthWebinar

For more information or questions contact:

Kern Youth Organizer
Ricardo Fonseca
(661) 379-6559

Fresno Youth Organizer
Cesilia Acevedo
(559)797-6860

KERN EDUCATION JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE PUBLIC HEARING, Mon. 6/3/19, 7pm

KERN EDUCATION JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE PUBLIC HEARING, Mon. 6/3/19, 7pm

Please join the DHF Youth (Youth and Family Civic Engagement Initiative) as they will be presenting their recommendations to the Kern High School District in efforts to improve their schools and educational outcomes for English Language Learners, Low income students, and foster youth.

KERN EDUCATION JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE INVITES YOU TO JOIN US FOR A PUBLIC HEARING

Monday, June 3, 2019 7-9 pm

at the KHSD Board Room
5801 Sundale Ave., Bakersfield, CA 93309

Share YOUR voice in how Kern High School District spends our money! Join parents, community members, and students to amplify our collective voice in the KHSD. We need our schools to succeed!

More Counselors! Less Expulsions! More Nurses! Less
Suspensions!

Education Matters!

For more information contact:
DHF Education Policy Director, Cecilia Castro 661-428-1258

COLABORATIVA DE EDUCACIÓN JUSTA KERN TE INVITA A PARTICIPAR EN UNA AUDIENCIA PÚBLICA

lunes 3 de junio de 2019 7-9 pm

en la Sala de Consejo de KHSD
ubicado en 5801 Sundale Ave., Bakersfield, CA 93309

Más Consejeros! Menos Suspensiones! Menos Expulsiones! Más Enfermeras!

Su opinión es muy importante en decidir cómo el Distrito Escolar de la Preparatoria de Kern usa nuestro dinero. Acompañe a padres, miembros de la comunidad y estudiantes del distrito escolar para compartir sus recomendaciónes para mejorar el distrito.

¡La educación importa!

Para más información contacte a:
DHF Directora de Política Educativa, Cecilia Castro 661-428-1258

MLK Jr. x DHF Youth Organizing

MLK Jr. x DHF Youth Organizing

DHF has recently expanded our partnership with the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center based in Oakland. Throughout the summer, students underwent an intense bootcamp based on the nonviolent teachings of MLK Jr. that included hands-on civic engagement opportunities, such as door-to-door voter registration in cities throughout the Pacific Coast.

July 8th though the 14th, 2018, about 30 MLK Jr. students stayed at the Cesar Chavez National Monument in Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz and went door-to-door to register voters in Bakersfield. Dolores Huerta visited La Paz to talk to the group about the importance and challenges of organizing. Afterwards, Camila Chavez gave the MLK Jr. students a tour and detailed her childhood experiences growing up in La Paz before it became a national monument.

DHF in Action: Youth motivated by movement history, Fri. 6/23/17

DHF in Action: Youth motivated by movement history, Fri. 6/23/17

Gerald C Cantu, Ph. D., Education Director, gave a presentation on the Farmworker Movement, and shared the films “Viva La Causa” and “Walk Out” with this year’s Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project cohort at Fresno State on Friday, June 23rd, 2017. The students participated in an engaging conversation on the importance of youth leadership in the movement.

The CLYLP San Joaquin Valley Institute (SJVI) was established in 1999 to inspire and motivate students from the area to become the future leaders of the San Joaquin Valley Chicano/Latino community through public service. Open to 50 students from the San Joaquin Valley, the three-day institute offers an impactful program designed to develop students’ leadership potential and increase their knowledge of the region’s cultural and political landscape. Institute participants connect with education, business, political and community leaders from the Central Valley and receive encouragement in their pursuit of post-secondary educational opportunities.

DHF in Action: Teens 4 Equality youth leaders join Free Our Dreams Day of Action, Mon. 5/8/17

DHF in Action: Teens 4 Equality youth leaders join Free Our Dreams Day of Action, Mon. 5/8/17

In May of 2017 Equality Organizers Dean Welliver and Moises Duran accompanied five teen leaders from Kern County to Sacramento for the Free Our Dreams Statewide Day of Action coordinated by Movement Strategy Center.  The Free Our Dreams convening took place May 6-8 in Sacramento provided workshops on movement building and legislative advocacy. Youth learned how to tell their stories so they could meet with elected officials to advocate for legislation that help create welcoming and safe communities for marginalized youth.

Teen Leader Emily Nunez worked on the youth planning committee for the convening and helped draft the model “Safe and Welcoming Schools for All” Platform that will be launched at the Fall 2017 Free Our Dreams youth organizing convening. The “Safe and Welcoming Schools for all” platform is a model policy that provides specific policy recommendations school districts can implement to ensure a safe and welcoming school climate for LGBT students, students of color, immigrant students, and Muslim students.

Paola Hinojosa was one of the teen leaders selected from organizations across the state to meet with California Superintendent of Education Tom Torlakson. Paola shared her story of growing up in a family of mixed immigration status and advocated for sanctuary schools to help students who are undocumented or have undocumented family members feel safe at school without fear of immigration enforcement on campus.

“As a student whose parents are undocumented, going to the state capital and speaking about these issues is something I take seriously. It was definitely a unique experience as the people we met with listened intently and really wanted to hear what we had to say which is nice because adults tend to not listen to what youth have to say.” – Paola Hinojosa

Additionally, all five teen leaders from Kern met with representatives from the offices of Senator Jean Fuller (R), Assemblyman Vince Fong (R), Assemblyman Dante Acosta (R), and Senator Henry Stern (D) to advocate for a legislation to end the use of willful defiance as a grounds for suspension and expulsion, legislation for free bus passes for students, legislation to update eligibility requirements for in-state tuition for undocumented students, and the creation of a third gender marker on government identification documents.

DHF’s Teens 4 Equality joined over 200 Free Our Dreams youth leaders in asking legislators and decision makers to take bold action that make our neighborhoods and schools safe and inclusive environments where youth are free to grow and thrive. They are asking our legislators and decision makers to step up and support legislation that:

– Creates sanctuary for all and fully inclusive schools and communities

– Reinvests resources from punishment and incarceration to prevention

– Transformative justice practices; and expansion of economic, health and educational opportunity for all youth

Support these youth leaders by asking that our representatives stand for all of us by supporting and building a “CaliforALL.”

Top Policy Priorities:

  • SB 607 (Skinner): Ending suspensions for willful defiance
  • SB 395 (Lara, Mitchell): Miranda rights for law enforcement interrogations for youth
  • AB 90 (Weber): Moratorium on the use of CalGang Database
  • SB 562 (Lara): Californians for a Healthy California Act
  • SB 68 (Lara): Extending in-state tuition for undocumented students at CSU and community colleges
  • CA Department of Education advisory for “Safe Schools For All”

#Cali4ALL, #FreeOurDreams #Safe4Me2

Civic Engagement: DHF Welcomes Youth Volunteers from The MLK Freedom Center, 7/5/16

Civic Engagement: DHF Welcomes Youth Volunteers from The MLK Freedom Center, 7/5/16

The Dolores Huerta Foundation is pleased to welcome student volunteers from The MLK Freedom Center founded by Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Every summer a group of high school and college students from the Odell Center in Washington and the MLK Freedom Center in Oakland, spend time in a targeted location to engage in non-partisan voter outreach and education while receiving daily instruction on civic engagement. This is their 24th year implementing similar mobilizations.

The purpose is to provide classes and rigorous civic engagement experience to students that prepares them for ongoing civic engagement and community organizing, and encourages a life-long commitment to public service and the further development of democracy.

This summer, the group will work with the DHF to register voters in the Central Valley from July 2nd – August 2nd.

 

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Youth: Mural Project, April and May 2016

Youth: Mural Project, April and May 2016

youth mural

 

“Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint you can at it.” Danny Kaye

The Dolores Huerta Foundation is inviting all middle and high-school youth to join in a Youth Mural Project at Greenfield Rexland Acres Park. Join the DHF Youth Group and work with a professional muralist to paint a mural at Rexland Acres Park commemorating civil rights heroes. Unity is the theme of the occasion. Together, a united community—inclusive of every race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation—cannot be stopped from achieving social justice. No art background is required to participate in this project.

When:
Tuesday, April 26th through Tuesday, May 31st

Every Tuesday and Thursday from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Every Saturday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Where:
Rexland Acres Park
351–399 E Fairview Rd
Bakersfield, CA 93307

Text “MURAL” to 51555 for updates on the mural project.

For more information, contact:

Nancy Becerra, DHF Youth Coordinator (661) 322-3033 nbecerra@doloreshuerta.org

Manuel Barrera, DHF Programs Director (661) 900-1659 mbarrera@doloreshuerta.org

Los Jóvenes trabajarán con un muralista profesional para pintar un mural, no se requiere ninguna base de arte.

Únanse con nosotros para aprender acerca de los héroes de los derechos civiles, y el activismo sin violencia.

Cuando:
martes el 26 de de abril hasta martes el 31 de mayo de 2016

Todos los martes y jueves 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Todos los sábados 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Dónde:
Rexland Acres Park
351–399 E Fairview Rd
Bakersfield, CA 93307

Mande un texto diciendo “MURAL” al 51555. Para más detalles e información sobre el proyecto mural contacte:

Nancy Becerra, DHF Youth Coordinator (661) 322-3033 nbecerra@doloreshuerta.org

Manuel Barrera, DHF Programs Director (661) 900-1659 mbarrera@doloreshuerta.org

Youth Mural Project Flyer 5-16

Youth Mural Calendar 5-16

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