Youth Leadership Institute

Youth Leadership Institute, known as yli, is a nonprofit founded in 1991 that trains young people - particularly youth of color and those from low-income communities - to lead social justice and policy change work. Its central programme, a youth leadership training curriculum for ages 12-18, covers leadership, research, storytelling and campaign development. Adult allies act as mentors and sounding boards rather than as leaders; the organisation's model rests on the premise that young people hold perspectives and ideas that adults do not.

From its headquarters in San Francisco, yli operates across nine California regions, including Fresno, Marin, San Mateo, Merced, Long Beach, Madera and the Eastern Coachella Valley. Its youth-led organising, advocacy campaigns and coalition-building span economic, educational, environmental, gender, health and racial justice, and have secured more than 130 policy wins across the state. The organisation also offers training and consulting services, sharing the tools and methods of its youth-led advocacy model with organisations worldwide.

Staff working with yli are engaged in a youth-led structure in which young people are positioned as drivers of change rather than participants. The organisation's stated aim is to address the root causes of systemic inequities, and its work combines direct youth development with policy advocacy, government engagement and community organising.