PRO Youth and Families

PRO Youth and Families mission is to inspire, educate, and mobilize young people to build a healthier future for themselves, their families, and their communities. As an organization, PRO stays true to this mission by segmenting work into the following principal programs:Youth Advocacy and Civic Engagement:Youth VoiceYouth Voice is a collection of youth-led, project-based advocacy programs which are designed to engage and empower youth who have experienced systemic oppression or adverse childhood or community experiences. Youth are equipped with skills, networks, and inspiration to leverage their voice and become strong advocates for change. The action-oriented program framework is based on best-practice principles of youth advocacy and social justice. Youth become empowered as they apply the principles, create their own advocacy projects and implement real-world solutions. Specific youth-led projects have included: advocacy to address underage alcohol use, underage marijuana use, homelessness, environmental concerns and dating violence. In partnership with local government entities, PROs Civic Engagement activities offer a variety of civic engagement programs including the Youth Leadership Academy in partnership with the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, Youth @ City Council and Summer @ City Hall in partnership with the City of Rancho Cordova. PRO also provides support to Sacramento Countys Behavioral Youth Advisory Board. Through these programs, youth learn about core values of democracy along with the inner-workings of local, county, and state governments. Youth have opportunities to connect with community leaders, learn critical skills, and develop projects to address and support policy and practice changes. WellnessWellness programs include Relationship Skills which offers relationship skills programming in both after-school and community-based settings. The programming supports youth in developing healthy relationship knowledge and skills to promote healthy futures by focusing on developing social-emotional and communication skills. The programs use The Dibble Institutes evidence-based Love Notes curriculum. Programs are specifically designed to respond to the needs of justice-involved youth, justice-impacted youth, and general high school and middle school youth in after-school settings.The Organizations Mentoring Program engages high school students as mentors to younger youth. The older students develop necessary leadership skills to become positive role models for younger children in their neighborhood. The younger students receive encouragement, connection to caring mentors, and opportunities to participate in life skills workshops and community service activities.PRO also delivers the mental wellness initiative MindOneSix, a youth development program that equips youth ages 12-19 with knowledge, skills, and tools to promote mental wellness for themselves, their peers, and their families. The program empowers and engages youth as community assets, change agents, and ambassadors for mental wellness on their school campuses and in the larger community. Youth and Family CollectiveCollective Impact PRO believes that serving youth in the Sacramento region is more effectively and sustainably done in collaboration with other like-minded partners. As such, in 2017, PRO began leading The Youth and Family Collective (YFC) - an initiative bringing together organizations to help youth, families, and nonprofit organizations to learn, earn, and thrive. The YFC builds on existing community assets and works to foster connections and align programs and services, support capacity building for community organizations, and drive collaborative programs. To date, over seventy organizations have engaged in YFC programs and projects. These programs include: #SacYouthWorks, a youth work-based learning program implemented in collaboration with the City of Sacramento and dozens of community-based organizations; #MindOneSix, equipping youth with knowledge and skills to serve as change-agents to improve mental wellness for themselves, peers, families, and community; and The STEP Up Program, YFCs inaugural pilot, bringing together six nonprofits to provide wrap-around support for individuals impacted by the War on Drugs.