News
Youth of Promise Go Back to School
We celebrated the start of the school year with our annual Youth of Promise Back to School BBQ. It was a fun-filled evening thanks to all our youth, mentors, and families who turned out to end the summer with a bang.
K-Rahn Valentine from Live Above The Hype gave families a taste of what the youth have experienced in his life skills workshops. “Goal setting is life or death,” he said. He explained that having solid goals can mean the difference between making positive and productive choices and going down the path of drugs, gangs, and violence. Then, youth and families wrote down and shared their goals for themselves. We love to see our YOP community come together to lift each other up.
We also honored our summer intern Malik at the BBQ. Malik has been instrumental to the Youth of Promise program this summer, forming strong relationships with all our youth, encouraging them to be their best selves, and going above and beyond to support them. Malik told YOP parents, “I’ve learned a lot from your kids this summer,” and told YOP kids, “You’ve encouraged and inspired me.” He encouraged the youth to stay motivated through the school year and through life — “If you want something, you have to make sure you make the right decisions. Stay focused and know the end of the road is going to be good.”
Thanks to our incredible community of donors, youth will be going back to school in style with brand new backpacks filled with school supplies. Our youths’ first day of school in Pasadena Unified School District is on Monday. Check out our Facebook page to keep up with their successes this school year.