In a collaborative effort, Fremont Unified School District, Youth & Family Services and, Highway to Work conducted, for the second year, a Youth Empowerment & Work Experience Academy for youth on Probation. The youth who graduated this summer gained elective credit, job readiness skills, work experience credit and employment. 

The teachers working with these youth were impressed by the changes they witnessed, including a positive shift in attitudes and behaviors, improvement in interpersonal and anger management skills, greater awareness of the impact of drugs and alcohol, and development of healthy coping skills. The participating youth developed insight about how they fit into their community. They began making more positive choices and taking on leadership roles with peers.

This year, we are excited to partner with Bridge Builders to implement a mentoring program to sustain the emotional gains the youth have made. Youth are being paired with caring adult mentors to assist them in learning life skills and developing core values through exposure to enrichment, education and positive role models.  

Bridge Builders is a partnership with the South Bay Community Church. Contact Tracy Perrilliat (tperrilliat@sobcc.org) for more information. 

A Student Success Story

Eric Rodriguez speaking at the Youth Academy Graduation August 2014

Eric Rodriguez is an exemplary alumnus of the Youth Empowerment and Work Experience Academy, which he participated in this summer. He grew up in a household with older siblings who were involved in gang activity and he initially followed in their footsteps. Raised by his father, after his mother left the family when he was six months old, he turned to drugs and alcohol at the age of 13. By the time he was 16 he had an assault charge and was on probation.

Eric, now 17, has started down a new path. Because he was behind in credits, Eric transferred to Bridgepoint Continuation High School in Newark where he has been able to raise his GPA. He is working hard to earn the credits he will need to graduate with his peers in the spring of 2015. The academic credits he earned in the summer Academy will help him achieve this goal. 

Eric also successfully completed his probation requirements in November of 2014. Eric credits the Youth Academy for assisting him in turning his life around. "The program was a place I could be myself and I didn't have to worry about anything", he says. "I learned new ways to solve my problems." Through Highway to Work, a key component of the summer program, Eric was able to find part-time employment at Newark's Silliman Family Activity and Aquatics Center as a building assistant, which led to a regular position after Highway to Work services ended. 

Bridges to Behavioral Health for 

Chinese Youth and Families

Yi Fang Chiu, M.A., Presenter

While the need to support mental health education and access is important for our entire community, our Chinese American community faces challenges that are even greater due to the lack of culturally sensitive and bi-lingual resources and service providers. Fremont's Youth & Family Services' Bridges to Behavioral Health Project was developed to better service the almost 40,000 Chinese American Fremont residents. The project has been generously supported by a Kaiser Community Support grant. 

The Bridges to Behavioral Health program included the creation of bi-lingual parent education workshops and educational brochures. To date, over 70 parents participated in the multiple workshops that were offered free of charge to the community at the Fremont Family Resource Center, the Fremont library, and private Fremont Chinese schools. YFS also partnered with Herald Family Rebuilding Center to support their ongoing parenting education and family strengthening projects.

The workshops were led by psychologist Dr. Helen Hsu, and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists Joan Zhang and Sasha Liu. They focused upon increasing knowledge about emotional stress and normal child and teen development. The goal was to dispel parental fears associated with emotional health and mental health services, and replace fears with knowledge and empowerment.