Youth & Government
Vital Stats
Serves: San Francisco teens, 14 - 19 years old
Emrollment: 25 - 50 students
Season: September - February, after school and on weekends
Demographics: 53% African American, 35% Asian, 12 % Caucasian. More than 80% are very low income.
Founded: 1994
Program Funders:
SD Bechtel Foundation
The donors to the Embarcadero YMCA Annual Giving Campaign
To participate, contact Katie Keers, Youth & Teen Coordinator, at 415 615 1344 or email.
Every year, from September through March, San Francisco teams come together to form California's most diverse delegation of Youth & Government participants.
In this YMCA program, they learn about how government is run at the city, state and judicial levels.
Founded as a Y program 65 years ago, Youth & Government ensures that our future government leaders understand the principals of citizenship, leadership and democracy, along with the Y’s core values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility. The program accepts youth participants from throughout San Francisco, but our goal is to attract students who would normally not self select for this extra-curricular activity. The majority come from neighborhoods around the four YMCA branches that host delegations: Bayview Hunters Point YMCA; Buchanan YMCA (Western Addition); Embarcadero YMCA (Downtown, Tenderloin, and South of Market); and Stonestown Family YMCA (Oceanview-Mission-Ingleside).
