On Friday Aug. 16, 2024, the community gathered at SeaTac’s Matt Griffin YMCA for Level Up, an annual youth conference and celebration designed to help teens and young adults “level up” their skills and explore pathways to reach their full potential.
Organized by The Social Impact Center at the YMCA of Greater Seattle and sponsored by foundry10, Boston Consulting Group, and Deloitte, this year’s event featured workshops on youth civic engagement, credit and banking, healthy relationships, cooking, and more.
“We want our young people to walk away feeling inspired overall. Whether they want to become a chef, an entrepreneur, find a job, even get connected to health insurance. They’re going to walk away with so many resources and just feel encouraged to keep fighting the good fight,” said Miraclejoy “MJ” Curtis, Lead Case Manager at the Y Social Impact Center and host of Level Up.
Participants came dressed for a day at the rodeo. The rodeo theme was chosen to highlight the hard-working and culturally diverse history of rodeo and cowboys and the current cultural moment in music and fashion.
“We want youth to know that this YMCA exists and as young adults who are in our programs, you can utilize this space for free. You can get memberships through our programs for free. It’s a place for young people to be with their friends, be in a safe environment, but also get the things they need, get those basic needs met, you know, and win cool prizes,” said Olivia Yuhashi, The Y Social Impact Center WIOA Out-of-School Case Manager. Olivia led a cooking demonstration for Level Up participants.
The focus of The Y Social Impact Center is on serving youth and young adults who have faced various forms of trauma, such as homelessness, foster care, exploitation, systemic poverty, and racism. Their comprehensive approach spans housing, behavioral health, education, employment, and violence intervention and prevention.
“As soon as I meet young adults, I let them know that their voice matters. I let them know that their opinion matters, and I let them know that they matter and they have the right to express that right. And so when it comes to letting their voices be heard, I let them know all the ways that they can do that by providing feedback on a survey, filing a grievance if they need to, but just letting them know that their voice does matter,” said MJ.
To continue putting on events like Level Up and running high-quality programs for young people, The Y Social Impact Center relies on community investment.
“Every single person here at the Social Impact Center has the heart and the soul to do this work, and we put ourselves out there every single day. But we need the backing from the community behind us. So with everyone’s help, we can take this community so far and see so much good done,” said Kathryn Rampley, The Y Social Impact Center, Youth Engagement Team Case Manager.
Support the work of The Y Social Impact Center here.