Youth Community Service (YCS)

Elevate youth voice to raise community connection and equity through service.

Since 1990, YCS has engaged young people from diverse Santa Clara and San Mateo County communities in meaningful service-learning. Our mission is to elevate youth voices to raise community connection and equity through service. We believe in a world where youth shape a better future for all.

Our evidence-based service-learning programs offer an upstream approach to youth mental health focusing on increased social-emotional learning and a sense of belonging for young people. YCS programs foster a sense of mattering by addressing community needs and leading youth-led actions focused on root causes of systemic disparities.

Mattering has a two-part definition: feeling valued and seen in our relationships; and secondly, adding value and making a difference in the contexts we operate in. Research shows that cultivating a culture of connection where youth feel they matter results in increased self-compassion, relationship satisfaction, and greater belief in their capacity to take collective action to create systemic change. Lack of mattering is associated with burnout, self-criticism, anxiety, depression, aggression, and an increased risk of suicide.

Through our award-winning peer leadership after-school program Youth Connect, YCS creates opportunities for youth from diverse communities in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties to come together to address the intersectionality of pressing community needs through youth-led service incentives. YCS creates space for youth to lead movement and power building by identifying tangible ways to address the complexity of numerous interconnected issues such as sustainability, social justice, policy change, and mental health.