Youth Leadership Academy (YLA)

 

 

Apply for the Youth Leadership Academy Here

Youth Leadership Academy Overview

Join us Spring 2024 for in-person Youth Leadership Academy, held on Tuesdays in April from 4:30 to 5:30 at the Bladensburg Branch library. All interested youth are encouraged to apply for this invite only, five-week session which will look at social justice, misinformation, and leadership. 

The Office of Human Rights is the county’s civil and human rights education and enforcement agency and has five (5) pillars:  investigations of allegations of discrimination; leading a coordinated collaborative response to sex and labor trafficking through the Prince George’s County Human Trafficking Task Force; overseeing an immigration defense program for detained Prince Georgians; implementing and managing equal access to County services regardless of English proficiency through the Language Access Compliance Program; and robust outreach and engagement programming to build community and to reduce incidents of hate, bias, and violence. Joining the Youth Leadership Academy allows you to explore one or more of these areas.

Mission

The mission is to develop programming that is youth-developed and youth-led to engage minds for a changed tomorrow.

Vision

The vision of the YLA is to promote peer-to-peer education on civil and human rights issues while developing civil and human rights social influencers who are passionate and knowledgeable.  The YLA further seeks to develop youth-led ideas, programming, and execution across a wide range of areas.

Program Details, Goals, and Objectives

The Office of Human Rights will work with all students of the YLA through program development ideas, and implementation.  Grade Point Average and other academic standards are not a pre-requisite to entrance into the Academy as the Office of Human Rights recognizes the value of inclusion. Spring 2024, the Youth Leadership Academy will meet in-person each Tuesday in April from 4:30 to 5:30 pm. 

The YLA commits to: prioritizing youth and young-adult empowerment; focusing on skill building in various areas; creating opportunities for project development; encouraging peer advocacy; enhancing personal and advocacy growth; promoting diversity and self-awareness; generating opportunities to establish additional support networks; and fostering overall social change influencers.  

Applications for the YLA are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year.

The Office of Human Rights encourages all youth who are interested in civil and human rights, and social justice issues to apply to the Academy.