An alliance of community youth is emerging, thanks to the efforts of Precita Community Center, Precita Eyes and Zulu Nation.
Known as the Trinity Youth Alliance, its aim is to create partnerships among youth groups that will help to increase services and activities for youth.
The Precita Community Center recently hosted a Youth Summit that included workshops and performances in graffiti art, spoken word, hip-hop and break dancing.
Precita Community Center Director Valentina Sedeno said she hoped the event got people excited about the services being offered at the center, which include GED classes, case management and afterschool and summer programs.
Damien Bosey, who teaches anger management at the center, described the growing collaboration as the start of something beautiful to support the youth.
“Everyone is giving from his or her heart to prove we can make the future better. I see nothing but beautiful things coming out of here,” Bosey said.
Eli Lippert, the Youth Arts coordinator at Precita Eyes agreed.
“The event was a chance for community workers and organizations to build and share ideas and to outreach to the community,” Lippert said. “It gave youth exposure to people that do good in the community.”
Lippert said the partnerships should spawn workshops and a safe space for community youth to express themselves—to be creative and have experiences that are not available from regular school programs.
Jose-Diego Banderas, a Youth Summit attendee and Mission native, said, “A lot of Mission culture is starting to die out because of gentrification; there aren’t a lot of programs for youth anymore.”