Here at Asian Women’s Shelter (SFAWS), we have a youth leadership program that is centered on building strategies to promote safe and healthy relationships/friendships and prevent violence from occurring. Violence could include but are not limited to teen dating violence, domestic violence, sexual violence, and gender-based violence.
Our program runs on an academic school year basis starting in August until April with a Fall, Winter, and Spring break. This year, we have a mandatory 3-day training from July 28-30, 2026. We meet using a hybrid modality - mixture of in-person and Zoom meetings. Youths who participate in this program are expected to not only attend our meetings, but also work on a final project to complete their time in the program with the support/guidance of the Youth IPV (Intimate Partner Violence) Prevention Coordinator and team. For more program information and expectations of this program, visit youth leadership opportunity
applications for 2026-2027 is scheduled to be release late March
Interested in joining leadership team?
Please check back in late March 2026 for more information
HISTORY
In honor of Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month 2026, we asked the youth leadership to write a note about a person, situation, or inspiration that led them to joining YAAAS and spreading awareness about the importance of healthy relationships.
Youths have been part of Asian Women’s Shelter (SFAWS) since we opened our doors in 1988. While staying at SFAWS emergency shelter, each family gets paired with an Adult and Children’s advocate.
In 2016,
The families staying at the shelter all had youths around the same age (13-17 years old).
Youths in the shelter started weekly meetings named ‘YES!” or Youth Empowerment station with their advocates and planned annual camping trips.
During their YES meetings:
Youths had active knowledge around intimate partner violence (IPV) with their own experience witnessing it within their own families.
These were also youths who were immigrant with each family speaking a different language.
In this space, the youths used their mobile devices to communicate with one another; paving the way for youths to discuss what were healthy and unhealthy characteristics of a relationship within their own communities.
For years, there were programs to support youths who had direct experience with IPV but they were not open to the public. After the immigrant youths left the shelter, SFAWS realized we wanted to continue supporting, fostering, and connecting these youths and their peers. The immigrant youths shared "there isn’t any other spaces like this in our lives that we are able to talk openly and honestly about healthy relationships.”
In 2020, we got our first funding to support youths to learn, grow, and take action to preventing IPV! We recognized youths come from all different backgrounds, cultures, and families that influence their understanding of relationships. Thus, to continue this space these immigrant youths created Youth are Aware, Active, and Supportive or YAAAS! Leadership Team was formed.
Need classroom presentation?
Currently at the moment, we are not offering any classroom presentations.