Founded by young people of color
In the Spring of 1994, a small group of young people of color active in their communities came together to form Youth United for Community Action.
About YUCA
Three decades of youth-led power in East Palo Alto.
Founded in 1994 by young people of color, YUCA has built generation after generation of organizers — winning environmental, housing, and education justice victories along the way.
Our Mission
YUCA provides a safe space for young people to empower themselves and work on environmental and social justice issues — establishing positive systemic change through grassroots community organizing.
Who We Are
A 501(c)(3) grassroots nonprofit created, led, and run by young people of color from low-income communities in East Palo Alto.
History & Programs
Built through leadership, basebuilding, and real campaigns.
YUCA's current work grows out of decades of youth organizing, from the FIRE Fellowship and Higher Learning to campaigns rooted in environmental justice, housing justice, and community self-determination.
FIRE Fellowship
YUCA launched the FIRE Fellowship as a program for young people of color that included paid internships with Bay Area community organizations working for environmental and social change.
Higher Learning
As more high school-aged youth became involved, YUCA launched Higher Learning in 1997 to create a safe space where high school youth could examine and act on issues impacting their communities.
Basebuilding and youth-to-staff leadership
YUCA later refocused FIRE on basebuilding and renewed its commitment to youth organizing, leadership development, coalition building, youth-to-staff transitions, and diversified resources.
Our Values
Youth Leadership
Young people of color set the agenda. Adults follow our lead.
Community First
We organize with EPA residents, not for them. Our power is collective.
Justice Now
Environmental, housing, and racial justice are inseparable.
Healing & Joy
We build a movement that holds rage and love, struggle and celebration.
Accomplishments Timeline
1994
YUCA founded by young people of color in East Palo Alto.
1997
Higher Learning launches to create a safe space for high school youth to examine and act on community issues.
2010
Strategic planning renews YUCA's commitment to environmental and social change, youth organizing, and basebuilding.
2014
YUCA helps win an Affordable Housing Linkage Fee and a Tenant Protection Ordinance in East Palo Alto.
2016
YUCA and community partners help pass Measures O, P, and J to strengthen housing and city services.
2018
YUCA hosts a youth-led City Council candidates forum and supports Measure HH for affordable housing and workforce development.
2020
YUCA launches climate resilience work and advocates for a local eviction moratorium at the onset of COVID-19.
2021
YUCA fundraises to help purchase its office space and permanently anchor youth organizing in East Palo Alto.
Community Wins
Youth-led organizing that changed East Palo Alto.
Youth Leadership
- Supported and trained over 150 low-income youth of color as core youth organizers and 650 low-income youth of color as members.
- Redesigned a membership structure that supports campaign participation, leadership growth, and different levels of youth capacity.
- Expanded Higher Learning to regularize political education, organizing trainings, campaign work, and holistic support for youth organizers.
- Received local and national recognition for YUCA's model of youth leadership development.
Environmental Justice
- Led over 250 workshops and toxic tours for more than 1,200 youth and community members.
- Shut down Romic, a hazardous waste toxic plant in East Palo Alto, after 11 years of community pressure and accountability work.
- Increased local control over hazardous waste facilities through an ordinance requiring formal city council approval of hazardous waste use.
- Created public education around East Palo Alto's human right to water and published a local water article in EPA Today.
Housing And Tenant Power
- Protected rent control in East Palo Alto through policies and practices designed to empower tenants.
- Won rollbacks of unfair rent increases by Page Mill Properties.
- Helped win an Affordable Housing Linkage Fee and a Tenant Protection Ordinance in East Palo Alto in 2014.
- Helped pass Measure O, Measure P, and revisions to rent stabilization and just-cause eviction protections in 2016.
- Successfully advocated for re-implementation of a strong Inclusionary Housing Ordinance in San Mateo County.
- Helped fight a rent increase for Section 8 tenants at Courtyard Apartments alongside Valiant Courtyard Tenants Association.
Community Planning And Civic Action
- Won the creation of a Community Advisory Committee for redevelopment projects in the Ravenswood Business District.
- Completed a community planning process for the former Romic site, including open space, trails, mixed-use housing and small business development, jobs, and community-serving facilities.
- Won seats for youth and staff on local advisory commissions including the Rent Stabilization Board, Public Works and Transportation Commission, Planning Commission, and San Mateo County Youth Commission.
- Hosted youth-led candidate forums for East Palo Alto City Council, Ravenswood City School District, and Sequoia Union High School District.
- Organized a protest against Amazon for dismissing East Palo Alto's 30% First Source Hiring Policy.
Schools, Restorative Justice, And Community Care
- Partnered with a local continuation high school to provide political education workshops to youth most at risk of dropping out.
- Hosted Know Your Rights workshops for teens and families in response to national police violence.
- Successfully lobbied for an off-site YUCA program at Menlo-Atherton High School.
- Initiated youth-led restorative and transformative justice work to interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline and advocate for less punitive practices.
- Received training on stress management to help youth identify and seek mental health support.
Climate Resilience And Organizational Anchoring
- Developed partnerships with Urban Permaculture Institute and Anamatangi Polynesian Voices to build interracial solidarity and culturally competent climate resilience work.
- Launched a Climate Resilience campaign grounded in sustainable practices long used by community ancestors.
- Advocated for and won a local eviction moratorium to keep renters housed at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Fundraised more than $1.2 million to avoid displacement, purchase YUCA's office space in partnership with PAHALI Community Land Trust, and permanently anchor youth organizing in East Palo Alto.
Staff
Meet the team supporting YUCA's youth-led organizing.
Staff & Board members bring organizing experience, East Palo Alto roots, and program leadership to YUCA's day-to-day work.