Belonging First: Inside Mission Youth In Action Second Year

When MEDA launched Mission Youth in Action (MYIA) in 2024 with funding from San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families, the goal was simple and ambitious at once: create a space where San Francisco’s high school students could turn shared community concerns into collective action. One year later, that space has grown.

In 2025–2026, 74 youth engaged with MYIA, with cohort members joining from nine San Francisco high schools (Balboa, Burton, City Arts and Leadership, Galileo, John O’Connell, June Jordan, Lowell, Mission, and San Francisco International.) They came from every grade level, ninth through twelfth, bringing a mix of perspectives that made the cohort’s conversations richer and its research sharper. As in Year 1, participants received stipends, reaffirming MEDA’s belief that youth expertise is real expertise and deserves to be compensated as community work.

MEDA extends deep gratitude to the staff who make MYIA what it is: Susana Gil-Duran, Family and Youth Engagement Specialist; Crista Alarcon Luna, Community Organizer; and Alejandro Bautista Zugaide, Family Success Coach. Their creativity, consistency, and care built an environment where young people felt seen, and where they felt safe enough to lead.

Research That Belongs to the Community

At the center of MYIA sits Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), a framework that puts young people in charge of studying the conditions shaping their own lives. Rather than handing youth a predetermined topic, YPAR asks them to identify the issue themselves, design the research tools, gather the data, interpret the findings, and decide what should change as a result. Adults serve as trainers and thought partners. The direction belongs to the youth.

This year’s cohort followed that arc in full. Participants facilitated discussions to define their research focus, received training in developing research instruments and running focus groups, organized into working groups, collected data from peers across the city, and synthesized what they heard into community-informed recommendations. They then presented their findings back to peers, families, community members, and stakeholders.

The method matters as much as the result. YPAR builds research literacy, but it also builds something harder to measure: the conviction that the problems young people notice are worth investigating, and that they are capable of investigating them.

From the Mission to Sacramento

MYIA youth also carried their voices beyond the neighborhood. This year, current participants and alumni from the inaugural cohort traveled together to Sacramento for advocacy days, meeting directly with legislators to press the case for sustained investment in the resources Mission families depend on. For many, it was a first trip to Sacramento and a first conversation with a legislator. It was also proof that the rooms where decisions get made are rooms they can walk into.

That experience connects directly to MEDA’s broader vision: Mission District residents as decision-makers in the institutions that shape their lives. Advocacy days turn that vision into practice at an age when civic habits are still forming.

What the Data Show

MYIA administered pre- and post-program surveys to measure how participation shifted young people’s sense of belonging, academic confidence, empowerment, and self-determination. The gains were consistent across every domain.

The sense of belonging showed the sharpest movement. At the start of the program, 52% of participants said they had formed meaningful connections with other participants. By the end, 82% did, a 30-point increase. The share who said there is at least one adult staff member who believes in them and whom they can count on rose from 81% to 95%.

Academic confidence grew as well. Confidence in writing skills climbed from 52% to 68%, and confidence in public speaking rose from 33% to 45%.

Empowerment measures moved steadily upward. By the end of the program, 73% said it is important to share their opinion to influence decisions at their school, up from 63%. Knowledge of how school decisions are made rose from 67% to 77%, and the share who felt empowered to share their opinion grew from 56% to 68%.

Self-determination indicators showed parallel gains: confidence in the ability to succeed in life and comfort setting goals and making plans to accomplish them each rose from 78% to 86%.

Taken together, the numbers describe a program doing what it set out to do, building belonging first, then the confidence and skills that belonging makes possible.

In Their Own Words

Participants told us they liked the program and would recommend it to others. They described staff as helpful and, notably, as good listeners. One participant put it this way:

“I feel very comfortable when it comes to trusting my coach at MEDA since she understands my situation and provides me with advice about anything that is going on in my school or community.”

They also told us where to grow. Youth asked for more one-on-one meetings, more field trips, and more opportunities to get up and physically move during sessions. That feedback is already shaping how we design the year ahead. A program built on youth voice has to take youth voice seriously when it’s pointed inward.

Across two years, MYIA has strengthened participants’ sense of belonging, academic skills, empowerment, advocacy capacity, career foundations, and self-determination. The program has also given each young person a trusted adult in their corner. Those are the ingredients of durable leadership.

As we look toward the next cohort, our focus areas are clear: engaging students through a wider variety of methods, and continuing to build public speaking and writing skills, the tools young leaders need to be heard in the rooms where decisions get made.

Join the 2026–2027 Cohort

Applications are now open for the third year of the program.

Starts: September 2026
Meets: Wednesdays, 2:45 to 6:00 p.m.
Where: MEDA’s Plaza Adelante, 2301 Mission Street #301, San Francisco
Stipends are available for participants.

For questions, contact Crista Alarcon Luna at calarcon@medasf.org