Programs & Services

Youth As Leaders is a positive youth development program benefitting middle school youth, ages 11-14 that live or go to school in the Hill neighborhood of New Haven. Youth participating in the program are given guidance to help them to develop leadership skills, the freedom to explore their own creativity, the opportunity to serve the community and tools to help them explore future career options.

Through YAL’s after-school program, youth are provided with a safe, well-structured, caring environment where they engage in a wide range of activities that promote leadership development, creative exploration, community service and career exploration. To date, over 110 youth have participated in Youth As Leaders.

Youth As Leaders is one of the few youth development programs in New Haven that exclusively targets pre-teen adolescents. The program purposely works with a smaller pool of youth to guarantee that each young person will get the individual attention and support that they need at a critical time in their adolescent development.