It's Our Money

Name of Your Organization:

South Asian Youth Action (SAYA)

Overview of the Project - Please provide a brief description of the project.

South Asian Youth Action (SAYA) aims to foster a strong sense of belonging in youth and provide them with tools to thrive academically, professionally, and personally. Since our inception, high school youth have participated in identity and leadership development and college access programming at our community center in Elmhurst. In the past few years, we have expanded programming at our center to include a college success cohort for students currently pursuing higher education. 

With support from the NYC Civic Engagement Commission and the It’s Our Money initiative, SAYA will provide peer to peer mentorship to our high school and college students at our community center. This mentoring program will cover a range of areas, including building social and emotional skills, leadership development, and academic and professional support. Currently, our community center programming is operating as a hybrid model, with both virtual and in-person programming. In addition to in-person mentorship meetings and sessions, we will utilize tools including Discord, FaceTime, Google Meet, and Zoom, as well as phone and email communication.

SAYA will hire 12 college students from our college success programming to serve as mentors to their high school peers, with youth paired up based on school year (college freshman mentoring high school freshman, college seniors mentoring high school seniors, etc.). Our mentors will be chosen from our current pool of college students following recommendations from their SAYA advisors. Each prospective mentor will be interviewed as part of the selection process. We will assign each of these designated mentors three high school students, for a total of 36 high school participants. In total, this work will benefit 48 SAYA youth in high school and college.

The program will be overseen by our Program & Events Coordinator and Leadership Program Manager. With support from other members of our community center program team, they will create a structured curriculum for our selected mentors to use. Alongside this work, mentors will share their first-hand experience and knowledge of how the academic rigor of college classes differ from high school, necessary skills to succeed such as time management, and advice on attending classes virtually.

Mentors will complete at least three touch points each week, providing support to youth for approximately three to four hours weekly. These touch points will include activities such as: 

• One-on-one mentoring meetings
• Joining SAYA class sessions and providing support to youth as needed
• Individual tutoring sessions
• Supporting mentees on group projects for programming
• Assisting program staff in development of lesson plans and workshops
• Creating outreach or promotional materials for our programs
• Participating in alumni career panels

Mentors will receive stipends totaling $1,000 for their four months of work. In addition, each mentor will have the opportunity to receive mentorship and career coaching for themselves from SAYA staff and professional volunteers during the grant period. These volunteers will provide guidance in areas such as career pathways, crafting resumes, and internship/job searching strategies.

Which of the following issues does your project address?

1. Issue 1 - Addressing Mental Health
2. Issue 2 - Preparation for College and/or Career
3. Issue 3 - Youth Advocacy Promotion

2 - Preparation for College and/or Career

Youth Engagement - Please explain how you will engage youth in the planning and implementation of the project.

Our community center mentorship program managers will lead weekly group meetings, where mentors can share needs, worries, and highlights of their work to date. Between these meetings, our program staff will hold individual check-ins with mentors.

While the curriculum for this project will be authored by our community center staff members, they will take into consideration the needs of our young people, surveying high school participants during regular program sessions for ideas, wants, and needs of subjects the curriculum and their mentors should cover. Youth participants will be able to add ideas and suggest program changes as the project continues. Mentors will also be able to personalize sessions with their peer mentees, offering advice based on their own experiences in high school and college. 

Budget - Your total project budget must equal $20,000 to be placed on the ballot for a youth vote. Please provide a brief description of what the funds would be used for to successfully implement your project. You will also need to download, fill in, and attach a full budget using this template.

Each of our 12 mentors will receive a stipend of $1,000 for the entire grant period, which will cover approximately 16 weeks. We will direct $2,000 in funding toward snacks and other materials needed to deliver services, with the remaining $6,000 directed toward salaries for our project managers, the Program & Events Coordinator and Young Men's Leadership Program Manager.

Timeline- Please describe the timeline for the implementation and completion of the project. All work for this project must be completed by June 30, 2021, which is the end of the city’s fiscal year and the deadline for the funds to be spent.

March 2021

• SAYA will interview and select 12 college students to serve as mentors
• 36 high school student mentees will be selected to participate in the project

April 2021

• Mentors will hold weekly group sessions with their high school mentees (4 total)
• Mentors will hold weekly meetings with fellow college student mentors and SAYA staff program leaders, to review practices and share updates (4 total)
• Mentors will meet one-on-one with each of their mentees at least twice a month

May 2021

• Mentors will hold weekly group sessions with their high school mentees (4 total)
• Mentors will hold weekly meetings with fellow college student mentors and SAYA staff program leaders, to review practices and share updates (4 total)
• Mentors will meet one-on-one with each of their mentees at least twice a month

June 2021

• Mentors will hold weekly group sessions with their high school mentees (4 total)
• Mentors will hold weekly meetings with fellow college student mentors and SAYA staff program leaders, to review practices and share updates (4 total)
• Mentors will meet one-on-one with each of their mentees at least twice a month
• SAYA will host an event for all mentors and mentees to celebrate the successful end of the project

Project Activity Alignment - How does your project align with at least one of the following topics:

1. Leadership skills development: organizing & advocacy trainings
2. Stewardship of public spaces: public parks, transportation, etc.
3. Youth and student engagement
4. Civic education and advocacy
5. Community outreach involving residents that have been historically underrepresented in or underserved by city government and its processes

Leadership skills development: organizing & advocacy trainings

Youth and student engagement

SAYA’s programming is designed to strengthen youth’s social and emotional learning (SEL), and build their ability to advocate for themselves, their peers, and their communities throughout their lives. We work to grow their confidence and leadership skills, and help them to achieve academic and professional success in undergrad, college, and beyond. Through this peer to peer mentoring, we will achieve these outcomes by building community among our high school and college students. 

Youth taking part in this project will increase beneficial abilities such as belonging, interpersonal skills, problem solving, and self-advocacy. With the addition of tutoring, youth will also receive the individualized support they need to improve their academic performances from young people who have undergone these academic challenges themselves.

We also aim to empower our college students by offering them specialized leadership training of their own. By placing them in leadership positions and providing them the opportunity to help and guide their peers, SAYA is helping them grow skills such as delegating roles and responsibilities, leading sessions, and designing work plans, which will prove invaluable in their college and professional careers.

What is your organization's area of focus?

1. Children and youth related
2. Advocacy and organizing
3. Arts and culture
4. Civic engagement
5. Education and literacy
6. Emergency management and disaster response
7. Employment and workforce development
8. Environment and sustainability
9. Faith-based
10. Food access
11. Health and medicine
12. Homelessness and/or affordable housing
13. Human rights
14. Human services
15. Immigrants and/or refugees
16. Justice related
17. Legal services
18. People with disabilities
19. Senior services
20. Women's issues

Children and youth related

Employment and workforce development

Education and literacy

Immigrants and/or refugees

Affirmations - Type \"YES\" below each statement to affirm that you are eligible to appear on the ballot for this process.

I confirm that my organization will be registered in the NYC Payee Information Portal and in PassPort, NYC’s online procurement system, in order to receive funding from the City of New York.

YES

I confirm that my organization is able to front the costs of implementing this project. Organizations will be paid based on deliverables. 

YES

Completion of Deliverables: I understand all deliverables must be completed by June 30th, 2021.

YES

I understand a condition of funding includes submission of a final report upon project completion, and participating in a debrief session with the CEC.

YES