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Youth Leadership America (YLA) is a non-profit organization that fosters leadership among America’s youth in order to promote positive change. Our motto is that “leaders are made, not born.” Using the city as a classroom, we serve youth by bringing them in contact with the community and we serve the community by brining it in contact with its youth. In our experience, the students bring the dreams and passion to the table and community leaders bring the pragmatism and know-how. We play the role of the matchmaker.
Over the past four years we’ve been connecting students with civic, business, and community leaders. Some of the notable organizations with which we collaborate: the Anaheim Union High School District, Hilton Anaheim and the Disneyland Resort. By letting the YLA youth board choose their own activities and direction, we create an atmosphere in which the youth can learn to be leaders by actually leading. |
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Youth Leadership America is the outgrowth of Youth Leadership Anaheim, a program that was founded in 2002 by a group of high school students in Anaheim, California. Inspired by the vision of program founder John Nguyen, these youth created a leadership development program that was operated by high school students for high school students. John approached Leadership Anaheim, an Anaheim-based not-for-profit, with his idea to inspire youth to lead by giving them the opportunity to interact and work with community leaders. Chartered as the youth component of Leadership Anaheim, Youth Leadership Anaheim was born. Each year a youth board of directors comprised of ten to twenty high school students operated and expanded the program. Under the guidance of youth board and holding to the belief that “Leaders are made, not born,” Youth Leadership Anaheim flourished as it molded young people into skilled leaders.
Three years later, John Nguyen, along with some other founding board members, facilitated an intense weekend of goal setting for the 2005-2006 youth board. It was here that the youth board decided that they wanted to share the benefits of their program with young people all across the United States. This goal setting session inspired Alexi Robichaux, one of the co-founders with John Nguyen and others, to envision a new YLA, a Youth Leadership America, that would be its own nonprofit commissioned with spreading the YLA model across America.
In January of 2006, with the support of our youth members, community partners, and Youth Leadership Anaheim, Youth Leadership America was officially founded as its own 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. To this day, we continue to excel as Anaheim’s premier youth leadership program and aggressively pursue our vision of exporting our community-centric leadership development model throughout all of America.
“There is a powerful driving force inside every human being that once unleashed can make any vision, dream, or desire a reality. Youth Leadership America's comprehensive hands-on curriculum affords us the opportunities to develop today's young people into tomorrow's adult leaders.” John Nguyen, Founder |
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