Resilient Youth Leadership Academy (RYLA)

In early 2015 the A. Philip Randolph Institute, in partnership with city agencies like the Department of the Environment, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the Neighborhood Empowerment Network, launched a youth leadership pilot program that became known as the Resilient Youth Leadership Academy (RYLA). 

The RYLA program engaged 10 Bayview youth leaders in an intensive 8 week capacity-building opportunity, emphasizing professional skill-building and increased awareness of the role young people play in civic leadership.

RYLA youth leaders further developed their capacity as community leaders by learning about how climate change acts as an environmental community stressor in Bayview. Using the professional and civic skills and knowledge, youth developed sustainable mitigation plans to combat the negative future impacts of climate change as it effects their community.

Developing professional and civic skills, learning about the impacts of climate change on urban communities, and developing sustainable mitigation plans to combat this issue all play into the long-term goal of the RYLA program, which exists to facilitate in the process of setting Bayview youth on a career path that will position them to remain active and effective leaders in the Bayview community.

Students from the 2017 cohort of the RYLA program are from all over the southeast section of San Francisco. Like the rest of San Francisco, the southeast is undergoing a period of intense transformation.  From the social pressures of gentrification to the broader impacts of climate change and globalization, the District will experience long term changes in both its physical and socio-economic makeup. Amidst all of this activity is a generation of young people who will one day will inherent this community regardless of its condition. The RYLA program invests in their ability to be equitable stakeholders as important decisions are being made and long term strategies are created.