Summary of 2009
Young Worker Leadership Academies
2009 Summary: We had the most wonderful, dedicated, and hard-working group of future community leaders, along with their adult sponsors, participate in the 2009 Young Worker Leadership Academies (YWLAs) in Berkeley and Los Angeles.
(January 29-31, 2009)
(Click sponsor name for info on projects the teams carried out after the YWLA)
(February 26-28, 2009)
(YWLA Los Angeles Team Project descriptions and photos coming soon)
YouthCares - International Institute of the Bay Area from San Francisco
(2009 Berkeley YWLA)
- The team conducted five 2-hour long training sessions for 40 high school students.
- They created an interactive lesson plan, including a "Jeopardy" - style game.
- They did a presentation for the adult staff at their Institute.
- They posted their powerpoint presentation on YouTube.
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"To me, it feels really important that I am teaching other teenagers about things that are in a way new to me too! I know this is something that I can honestly say I will take this learning and share with others."
--YouthCares Youth Team Member |
College Track from Oakland
(2009 Berkeley YWLA)
- The team developed and conducted three 70-minute presentations for 30 high school students, adapting activities from the YWLA.
- They included fun activities in their workshop, including the "Safety Pyramid" game and the "Disaster Blaster" game.
- They distributed the factsheet, Are you a working teen?
- College Track plans to continue to offer workshops on workplace rights and responsibilities to their program participants in the future.
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"I did not know anything about teen laws and working. Like how you can only work so many hours when you're 15. My advice to other working teens would be to stand up when you know something is not right because you do have a voice and it does make a difference."
--College Track Youth Team Member |
One Achievement from Stockton
(2009 Berkeley YWLA)
- The team developed and conducted a presentation for 50 high school students.
- Their workshop included a powerpoint presentation, photos and the Lost Youth video.
- Students were given a 25-question quiz to test their knowledge, with prizes (candy and gift cards!) going to students with the best scores.
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"I learned a lot I didn't know before. Thanks for informing us on our rights on the job."
--One Achievement Youth Team Member |
Project YES from Ceres
(2009 Berkeley YWLA)
- The team conducted five 2-hour long training sessions for 150 high school students.
- They created a powerpoint presentation covering health and safety and labor laws, and where to go for help, and showed the Lost Youth video, which really got students talking.
- Project YES plans to continue offering this workshop to new enrolling clients in their program.
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"The Leadership Academy was nothing like I expected. I thought it was going to be boring and just something I wouldn't be interested in but I was completely wrong. I had lots of fun learning about teen rights and meeting new people. It's such a rewarding experience coming home and sharing my new awareness to teens in my community."
--Project Yes Youth Team Member |
Sacramento Youth Commission from Sacramento
(2009 Berkeley YWLA)
- The team presented to the Sacramento City Unified School District Board and succeeded in getting them to pass a resolution requiring all 14 high schools in Sacramento to provide information on workplace rights and responsibilities to students who receive work permits (the Are you a working teen? factsheet and a recommendation to watch the Lost Youth video).
- They started by surveying local high schools to determine what information students currently receive when applying for a work permit.
- They shared information at their own schools.
- Because they were able to institutionalize permanent information sharing through the District's new work permit policy, this information will reach at least 5,000 students each year!
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"This experience has definitely made me more aware and confident to speak up if there's ever a problem in my surroundings. It's also inspired me to take the information given to me and pass it on to other youth."
--Sacramento Youth Commission Youth Team Member
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Foothill High School from Bakersfield
(2009 Los Angeles YWLA)
- The team (FSH "Foothill is Hip on Safety"), organized a Safe Jobs for Youth Month info event at Foothill High School during two lunch periods, reaching over 300 youth and 15 adults.
- Their event included an info table, job hazard posters they designed, and a true/false quiz for students.
- Students who correctly answered quiz questions got to shoot a basketball into a hoop for a prize.
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"I learned that no matter what job I have, I have rights and need to know about the safety hazards...and how to deal with them!"
--FHS Team Member |
COMPACT Helping Hands Teen Service Club of Escondido
(2009 Los Angeles YWLA)
- The team - "Teen Workers Teaching Rights" (TWTR) - set up a Twitter site with daily updates on young worker health and safety at Twitter.com/teenworkersTR
- TWTR hosted a booth at the Escondido Education COMPACT's Youth Opportunity Day, where they shared the brochure they developed, reaching 100 students and 40 adults. Participants also took a quiz on the info in the brochure, and won prizes for correct answers.
- TWTR's brochure will be distributed at career centers in all of the high schools in the Escondido Union High School District.
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"This whole project really opened my eyes to what kind of jobs there are out there."
--TWTR Team Member |
South Bay Community Services from Chula Vista
(2009 Los Angeles YWLA)
- This team planned and conducted an orientation for EXCEL youth interns, a program that provides work readiness training, internships and other support services to youth.
- The orientation included stories of young worker injuries, and information on how to identify different types of hazards in the workplace, and on young worker rights and responsibilities.
- The safety orientation will become a regular part of EXCEL's youth internship program.
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"I learned so much in YWLA and now I can walk into a job site knowing that I can be safe and have rights."
--South Bay Community Services Team Members |
Manual Arts High School from Los Angeles
(2009 Los Angeles YWLA)
- This team is creating a video on young worker health and safety, based on interviews with parents, students, and teachers. The video will be available in Fall 2009.
- The project has involved other students at school, and is seeking funding from a school grant for production expenses.
- The video will be distributed to community-based organizations, middle schools and elementary schools in the community.
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"I knew some rights that you had but not all the rights for teen workers when I participated at the YWLA."
--Manual Arts High School Team Member |
Youth Mentors - YWLA from Los Angeles
(2009 Los Angeles YWLA)
- These five YWLA alumni attended the Los Angeles Academy, and then became spokespeople at several different conferences and events to share information on young worker health and safety and the YWLA.
- Youth Mentors helped conduct a workshop at the Education and Labor Collaborative Forum for 25 high school teachers on teaching teens about workplace safety.
- A Youth Mentor participated in a panel at a Southern California Workers' Memorial Day event sponsored by UCLA-LOSH and by SoCalCOSH. Former YWLA Youth Mentors (the "Fab 4") performed their safety rap.
- Youth Mentors provided a workshop at Manual Arts High School, reaching over 60 students.
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"Everyone learned to be cautious at work, hopefully not only for themselves, and I hope each individual was motivated to continue to spread the word to teens about their rights and safety in the work place."
--Youth Mentor |
Copyright 2009, Labor Occupational Health Program, UC Berkeley.
This page last modified: April 2009
Photos by: Rebecca Letz
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