over
over over over over over over over over over over over over over

Downtown Community Development YMCA

Welcome to the website of the YMCA Long Beach Youth Institute! This site's main purpose is to showcase the movies, magazines, and other media projects completed by us. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments.


Recent News:

05-08 HEALTHY ACTIVE KIDS DAY - Over 40 Youth Institute Participants took part in this year's YMCA Healthy Active Kids day, operating booths with activities such as Face Painting, Crafts, Puppet Making and Fishing. They also had karate demonstrations, Aztec Dancing, Zumba, Salsa Dancing and a jumper for the young children. Click here to view photos from the event.

05-08 WELCOME YMCA YOUTH INSTITUTE CLASS OF 2008! - Here at the Youth Institute we have a history of making goals and exceeding them. We are in constant growth and this summer we have doubled in size, with a total of eighty students accepted into our summer Youth Institute! Click here to see photos from the meetings before the program kicks off on June 16.

04-08 YOUTH INSTITUTE TEENS IN THE LONE STAR STATE! - This month Change Agent Productions went to film the first annual Out-of-School Time for High School Youth conference in Houston, Texas. The two-day symposium focused on successful approaches and Best Practices to engage high school-age youth in out-of-school time programs. Following the conference they trained YMCA of Greater Houston staff on digital media. 6 of our high school teens went and trained over 50 professionals in digital media. Our workshop got a standing ovation! Click here to check out their pictures.

04-08 Happy New Year - Recently our youth were asked by Vice Mayor Bonnie Lowenthal to participate in the fourth annual Cambodian New Years Parade. Our teens were able to experience just a sample of the Cambodian culture with booths, food, and games. Click here to view all the fun!

03-08 IN THE CITY! - A total of eighty students and staff members from the YMCA Youth Institute went to San Francisco where they took trips into the surrounding Bay Area to visit Apple, Electronic Arts, and HOWTOONS headquarters. They also spoke with Susan Walters of the California Emerging Technology Fund and Ludon Lee of Grapple Entertainment. A special thanks goes to Eugene Chan and the Zero Divide Foundation and Cheryl Lee of Apple for organizing the corporate visits. Students also had the chance to explore independently in a competitive, citywide scavenger hunt! Click here to see all the fun!

02-08 Red Carpet Success! - Over fifty participants in our High School After-School program took their first steps into the world of filmmaking and screened their career-debut movies at the LB WRAP After-School Film Festival, held at Cabrillo High School. It was an exciting evening of art and community with great potential for growth. The team from Renaissance High School took home the grand prize of $200! Click here to see the winning videos.

01-08 CHANGE AGENT PRODUCTIONS AND THE YOUTH INSTITUTE RECEIVE A $125,000 GRANT FROM THE JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT FOUNDATION THROUGH THE LONG BEACH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION - The Long Beach Community Foundation and the Knight Foundation have given the Youth Institute and Change Agent Productions a $125,000 grant to further the teaching of high-end technology to low-income urban youth in real world corporate environments. Youth will learn higher end technology skills by taking what they have learned in the Youth Institute and applying it on the job with corporate projects gained through Change Agent Productions.

01-08 CHANGE AGENT PRODUCTIONS, A NEW SOCIAL ENTERPRISE VENTURE - A new Youth Institute business has been formed with a $710,000 Big Bet Grant from the Community Technology Foundation. It is Change Agent Productions. CAP's services include digital movie making, graphic design, web design, technology set up and consultation for school districts and non-profits. They even do AV for conferences! This social enterprise consists of three professional digital artists and teaches our Youth Institute participants skills in technology by having them work on 'paid' real world projects for corporate clients. Their tag line is: We are creative, pay attention to detail, and can get it done in a timely manner. So, if you have technology needs, are running a conference, or need a promotional website, brochure, or movie, contact Change Agent Productions! www.changeagentproductions.org

01-08 TWO YOUTH INSTITUTE ALUMNI ARE WORKING IN BOLIVIA - Veronica and her brother Alan are working and living for a year in Bolivia with relatives. They are working with a Surveying Company and using their technology skills traveling the countryside and mapping the geography. Here are some great pictures of both of them surrounded by Bolivia. We are so proud of their accomplishments and how the skills that they learned while at the Youth Institute is helping them in their present country. Check out their pictures here.

01-08 26 YOUTH INSTITUTE TEENS RECEIVE FREE COMPUTERS!!! - This last Friday, the Youth Institute gave away 26 of the old blue iMac computers by lottery to the Youth Institute participants. The iMacs are part of the old YI Lab that was recently updated with a grant from the Community Technology Foundation. The old iMacs are actually quite useful with iMovie software and word processing software built into the OSX system. The computers are not powerful enough now to make the kind of movies and do the kinds of graphics that we are teaching now in the Youth Institute, but are great machines for homework and Internet Research. To see the picture of the teens with their computers, click here.

01-08 WASHINGTON D.C. PICTURES - Just before the holidays, 10 teens and YI staff went to Washington DC to interview Congresswomen Laura Richardson for a video project called "What Does it mean to be an American?" The teens interviewed the Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Maxine Waters and various other people in DC. The teens walked the National Mall and visited the Washington Monument, National WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, the White House, toured the Library of Congress and visited the National Gallery of Art and the National Museum of the American Indian. Congresswoman Richardson gave us a private (non-public) tour of the Capital Building and escorted us to the top of the Capital Dome. To view pictures from the trip, click here.

12-07 HOLIDAY PARTY PHOTOS - Photographs from our annual holiday party are now on the web, to view them click here. Over 80 Youth Institute alumni came together to participate in our annual Holiday Party. They ate, decorated christmas trees and reconnected with old friends and staff. In the end they all took home a $10 movie gift certificates.

12-07 HOLIDAY PHOTOS! - Our holiday photos are now on the website to check them out click here.

11-07 YMCA EXPO PICTURES! - YMCA EXPO pictures are now on the website to see them click here.

11-07 HAUNTED HOUSE PICTURES! - The pictures from the YMCA Haunted House are now up on the web, click here to view pictures.

10-07 PICTURES UPDATED! - The Kiwanis and Stella Retreat pictures are on the web, to view them click here to go straight to the photo's section.

09-07 YOUTH VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE! - The Youth Institute videos are now on YOUTUBE and GOOGLE VIDEO. To see the videos, you first go to YOUTUBE.com, then type in YMCAYI under "search" and enjoy the many selections of videos by our Youth Institute students.

08-07 THE NEW 2007 YI CLASS MOVIES ARE HERE! - See them in "Movies" section or click here

07-07 HUGHES MIDDLE SCHOOL YOUTH INSTITUTE - A new Youth Institute has been born. The Hughes Youth Institute is partially funded by LBUSD ASES Prop 49 funds. Click here (PICTURES UPDATED) to view some pictures of Hughes Middle School students working on their movies and magazine. The students are very excited to be a part of the Youth Institute and film festival on Aug. 11.

07-07 STEPHENS MIDDLE SCHOOL YOUTH INSTITUTE - The Stephens Middle School Youth Institute is hard at work making their movies and magazines. Click here (PICTURES UPDATED) to view some pictures from Stephens.

06-07 NEW CLASS RETURNS FROM WILDERNESS RETREAT - The Youth Institute Class of 2007 has just returned from the wilderness retreat! They will be starting the summer program next week. Click here to view the pictures.

03-07 NEW CLASS - We just had our first meeting for the Youth Institute class of 2007! The class had a chance to meet each other, and was introduced to the program and lab. To view pictures from the meeting, click here.

02-07 BEACH CLEANUP - The YMCA Youth Institute and the First District Youth Council met up on the shores of Long Beach for a day and cleaned up trash. To view some pictures from this event, click here.

02/07 MARGUERITE CASEY FOUNDATION - The Youth Institute has just returned from filming the latest convening of the Marguerite Casey Foundation in Seattle. To view pictures of teens, the city, and various landmarks, click here.

02/07 MARGUERITE CASEY FOUNDATION - The Marguerite Casey Foundation used pictures of our youth for their Board Meeting Cover. Check out the layout here.

01-07 OPEN HOUSE - A group of Youth Institute youth helped out at our annual YMCA open house at the downtown fitness facility. To view pictures from the open house, click here.

01/07 YOUTH INSTITUTE RECEIVES GRANT FROM THE B.C. MCCABE FOUNDATION - The YMCA Youth Institute received $15,000 from the B.C. McCabe Foundation. These funds will be used to fund Academic Awards for the summer graduates in the 2007 class. This grant will help us continue to provide much needed program services to over 300 youth presently involved with the Youth Institute. Thank you to the McCabe Foundation for their generous support.

01/07 YOUTH & GOVERNMENT - This last weekend, nine teens took part in the second conference and training session of the state wide YMCA Youth & Government Program. This program teaches teens the importance of civic participation. They write bills, get elected for offices and learn in the process. This program will culminate in 2,800 teens taking over the state capital in Sacramento where they will role play Senators, Assembly members, Lobbyists, and yes, even lawyers. To view pictures from the trip, click here.

01/07 FROST VALLEY, NY - A few weeks ago, three teens and two staff attended the Y-Arts Expo at the Frost Valley YMCA Camp in New York State. They got to teach over forty YMCA professionals how to incorporate Youth Film into their existing Teen and Camp programs. The YMCA professionals were amazed by the knowledge of our high school youth. To view pictures from the trip, click here.

12/06 HOLIDAY PARTY - We just had our annual holiday party at the Youth Institute. Almost 100 Youth Institute and Stephens Youth Institute alumni attended this year. To view pictures from the party, click here.

12/06 SEASONS GREETINGS! - From the YMCA Youth Institute. CLICK HERE.

WINTER 2006 NEWSLETTER - Click here to view our newsletter for winter of 2006.

12/06 COMMUNITY SERVICE - Since September, The YMCA Youth Institute has taught project based lessons to over 200 elementary students. Over 40 Youth Institute Alumni have volunteered two days a week at Willard Elementary School and Roosevelt Elementary School. Projects at the schools include basic computer essentials like word prossessing, Power Point, and internet research. We also teach intermediate skills such as movie making, making holiday greeting cards for family members and morphing images using Photoshop. To see some recent pictures from Roosevelt, click here.

12/06 YI EVALUATIONS - California State University Long Beach Department of Social Work has just completed a three part evaluation on the High School Youth Institute and the Stephen's Youth Institute. They can be accessed here in pdf format. The Youth Institute Conference presentation can be downloaded here in powerpoint format, and here in pdf format.

11/06 MARGUERITE CASEY FOUNDATION - The Marguerite Casey Foundation has contracted with the YMCA Youth Institute to film five regional convening's in Long Beach, CA, Chicago, Illinois, Atlanta Georgia, Phoenix, Arizona, and Seattle, Washington. Youth Institute Staff and Director will be taking alumni to the next two convenings in Phoenix and Seattle. These inner city teens will get the opportunity to travel, meet new people, learn more about technology, and the chance to express their feelings and experience to others about their journey throughout the Youth Institute.

11/06 - LONG BEACH YOUTH FUND COMMITTEE GRANT - For two weeks three teens have been working on a grant to empower females. The Long Beach Youth Fund Committee has given these three girls the opportunity to make a difference. When the grant is approved there will be a teen conference covering important teen issues, including relationships, self-image, and abuse. A long-term goal is to create change in our community by presenting what has been learned about teen girl issues during the conference.

10/06 ANNUAL YMCA FAMILY PICNIC - We have just held our annual family picnic at Cesar Chavez Park. Click here to view pictures from this event.

10/06 HALLOWEEN HAUNTED HOUSE - The 2006 YMCA Youth Institiute Haunted House was another huge event this year for the community. We served almost 500 elementary school children as well as anyone from the general public who dared to expirience our horrid haunted house. Many Youth Institute Alumni from the High School program & the Stephens Middle School program participated in this event. They had multiple roles which included set-up, make-up, haunted house guides, monsters, cash register, and take down. This event gave our youth another opportunity to serve our community, enjoy the children, and an opportunity to reunite with eachother. It was enjoyable for the Youth Institute Alumni as well as Staff to see the excitment and fear on the kids faces and know that all the hard work paid off and it was a job well done. To view pictures from this event, click here.

08/06 GROUP PHOTOS - Click here to view group photos from the High School and Stephens Youth Institute 2006.

08/06 NEW MOVIES - Click here to check out the new movies from the YMCA YI Class of 2006 and Stephens YI Class of 2006.

4/06 WELCOME YOUTH INSTITUTE CLASS OF 2006 - We had our first meeting of the new class of the high school Youth Institute. They are the sixth class chosen and look very promising. Check out the pictures here.

04/06 - YOUTH INSTITUTE VISITS SAN FRANCISCO, GOOGLE CORPORATION, AND CURRENT TV - 57 high school and middle school youth institute youth and ten staff and volunteers recently visited San Francisco and toured the city. The exciting part of the trip was their visit to Google Headquarters in Mountain View where they showcased their movies and learned about the new Google Video initiative. They also visited Current TV, a national TV station devoted to showcasing short community based films. We would like to give a special thanks to Google, Current TV and especially The Community Technology Foundation of California for arranging all of the corporate visits. Our youth learned so much from this once in a lifetime special experience. These experiences give our youth an advantage in knowing what careers are out there and what education and expertise is required to work for these companies. Check out the pictures here.
The trip is also on the Community Technology Foundation of California's website at www.zerodivide.org

03/06 - YOUTH INSTITUTE ALUMNI AND STAFF TEACH DIGITAL MEDIA AT CAL POLY POMONA - The Youth Institute recently sent four trainers to the Cal Poly Pomona After School Technology Summit to teach after school providers how to implement digital media and storytelling projects for their youth. It was a well-attended event.

02/06 - YOUTH INSTITUTE PARTICIPANTS FILM THE HIGH SCHOOL DROP OUT CONFERENCE AT USC - The Youth Institute Alumni were recently asked by Apple to help film the High School Drop Out Conference put on by USC. The conference brought attention to the need for more programs like the Youth Institute to engage high school age youth and support their academics in a project based learning, youth development environment. Check out the pictures here.

01/06 - YOUTH INSTITUTE COLLEGE SKI TRIP - This January 15 YI college students attended the first YI sponsored event for our new college youth. They had a great time skiing, snow boarding, and relating their college experiences with each other. This was the first such events designed for young adults who have graduated from the Youth Institute as high school students but who are now needing different supports as young adults. Check out the pictures here.

12/05 - NEW MIDDLE SCHOOL YOUTH INSTITUTE AT STEPHEN’S - Thanks to generous grants from The Greater Long Beach Foundation ($25,000), The Knight Foundation ($40,000), and Long Beach Unified School District ($28,000), a new Youth Institute has been born at Stephen’s Middle School. This program combines the intensive summer Youth Institute program with an after school digital media club program along with in-school curriculum digital media classes. So far, thirty YI youth have graduated from the summer program and the two staff are teaching over three hundred youth in school and after school at Stephen’s. The school has a state of the art technology lab that our staff use and we teach students in school as well as Stephen’s teachers how to maximize the technology and integrate project based learning activities into multiple software for the students and still meet California Content Standards. Check out the pictures here.

12/05 - YOUTH INSTITUTE RECEIVES MARGUERITE CASEY FOUNDATION GRANT - The Marguerite Casey Foundation has just approved a $100,000 a year ($300,000) grant for the operation of the Youth Institute and Leadership programs. This will help fund the Youth Institute until 2008.

12/05 - THE W.M. KECK FOUNDATION HAS AWARDED A GRANT TO THE YOUTH INSTITUTE - The W.M. Keck Foundation has awarded the Youth Institute $100,000 a year for three years to expand and carry out it’s programs. This is a total grant of $300,000. This will effectively fund the Youth Institute until 2008.

12/22/05 - DECEMBER 2005 HOLIDAY PARTY - Over 80 Youth Institute teens came together to share in the season and participate in our annual Holiday Party. They ate, decorated two Christmas Trees and reconnected to friends and staff. They all took home $10 movie tickets as presents courtesy of the Youth Institute. Check out the pictures here.

12/05/05 - California State University Long Beach Department of Social Work has just completed a three part evaluation on the Youth Institute. The first part is a Summer pre-and-post assessment on Leadership Skills and Technology Skills. The second part is a Focus Group Report from both YI Alumni and the Class of 2005. The third part is attendance data on all activities from January 2005 to April 2005. You can view the evaluation and download it here. For more information on our evaluation, contact Dr. Julie O'Donnell at julieo@csulb.edu.

11/05 - YOUTH INSTIUTE STAFF AND TEENS TRAIN IN CHICAGO - This last November, three Alumni taught digital storytelling to staff of the Young People’s Project in Chicago. Illinois. The Young People’s Project is a youth serving non-profit on the East Coast that focuses on educating urban youth and building community movements. The three Alumni along with Bob Cabeza enjoyed learning from them as much as we enjoyed teaching them. Check out the pictures here.

11/10/05 - The Journal Of Technology in the Human Services has feature the YI in two articles. The YI has been featured as having the "Best Practices for Intergrating Technology and Service Learning in A Youth Development Program". Click here to download document. We have also been featured as a program which promotes youth development in technology. Click here to download document.

10/25/05-10/30/05 -The YMCA Youth Institute held another successful Haunted House event this year. We had over 500 people going through the scary halls of the YMCA. The YI dedicated over a week of their time to bring an affordable Haunted House to the low income families of Long Beach. Click here to view pictures.

10/22/05 - The Downtown Community Development YMCA of Long Beach just held its annual Family Picnic. The Youth Institute contributed by setting up Tents, Activity Booths, Cooking, and also cleaning the entire Cesar Chavez Park. Click here to view some pictures from the event.

10/5/05 - Strategic Business Resources, Inc. - We would like to thank and recognize our corporate sponsor Strategic Business Resouces and George Kardously for continuously contributing their time and resources to the Youth Institute. Click link to view website.

9/1/05 - 15 YI students now participate in United Way, Tomorrow Leaders project. YI students teach advance technology skills to students from Willard and Roosevelt Elementary schools. The YI developed a curriculum to help students become stronger in Computer Literacy. Our interactive classes allow students to develop skills in typing, basic understanding of operating systems, internet research skills, and digital movie making.

8/28/05 - Digital Arts Camp - This past summer, 27 alumni and 7 staff members participated in a unique experience that took them from the classroom to the campfire. In its second year, the digital arts program at Camp Oakes continues to be a popular program for campers and camp staff.  The alumni and staff spent four weeks teaching basic story structure, editing, sound design, and digital graphics.  The last week of digital arts camp we worked with the Los Cerritos YMCA and ABC Unified School District in teaching project-based digital storytelling that was inline with the California Content Standards.  We received positive responses from the parents and school board on this project

8/27/05 - YMCA Youth Institute Civil Rights Journey!!! A group of 16 diverse Youth Institute students and seven staff members had the opportunity to travel to the deep south and retrace the steps of those who fought for civil rights. The journey started in Birmingham, Alabama with a tour of the 16th Baptist Church and The Kelly Ingram Park. The group also traveled to Selma, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; and to the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee where Martin Luther King was assassinated. Students learned about racism and classism and how they can help address those issues in their schools, families, and their local communities. During the trip students were responsible for carrying out the trip itinerary, facilitating diversity workshops, and making presentations about the YI to our hosts. View Trailer .

8/13/05 - The Dynamic Staff - Our staff was composed of seven professionals and six college students. The group was not only ethnically and gender diverse but also technologically diverse. Our students were instructed by professional digital moviemakers, digital music makers, web developers, network administrators, and most important youth developers.

8/13/05 - CONGRATULATIONS!!! To the Class of 2005 for completing a successful summer, and for finishing their final movies. This past summer we had 40 new youth, becoming the largest class the Youth Institute has had in the past 5 years. Click here to view their movies.

8/13/05 - ALUMNI - The 21 alumni chosen this year were the first to receive "oscar's" awards for their tremendous contributions to the YI through their independent study. Alumni were give two independent movie projects. Through this process the alumni gain skills in time management, self discipline, and independent study skills. Click here to view their movies.

7/1/03 - Stevenson Community School - Check out the new Stevenson YMCA Community School Video.  This video was totally produced by teens in the Youth Institute under the guidance of the Technology Instructors.  The video has interviews from various school staff, after-school staff, students and community members on the importance of the Community School and its positive impact on the community. Click link to see video.

6/13/05 - A new Youth Institute is Born!!! Thanks to The Greater Long Beach Foundation and James L. Knight Foundation a new Youth Institute was established at Stephens Middle School in west Long Beach. 30 middle school youth learned a lot about themselves, Digital Arts, and Movie making. Movies Coming soon.

6/1/05 - Long Beach Youth Fund - Three teen groups where awarded over $5000 for teen lead projects from the Long Beach Youth Fund. Alumnus, Phyras Men, class of 2003, wrote a grant for an all city teen talent show. This is the third year for the Teen Talent Show and each year it gets bigger and better. Alumnus, Luis Lopez, class of 2001, is producing a short documentary on Gang Life.  The video will help influence youth to say no to gangs and drug abuse.  The First District Youth Council, which is comprised of the Youth Institute, is holding a multicultural day event at Cesar Chavez Park to share the diverse cultures of Long Beach. 

6/1/05 - Cabrillo and Jordan High Schools, along with the Conservation Corps Of Long Beach have partnered with us to develop a digital arts program. During the last year, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays over 15 high school students congregated in a digital arts after school program. Students were engaged in the art of digital story telling, graphic design, and digital non-linear video making.

5/5/05 - The new Youth Institute Focus group Evaluation is out. CSULB interviewed 135 teens who have been in the program since 2001. There are some great outcomes and quotes from the youth themselves. To download the report click Results of YI Focus Group.

4/13/05 - Five Youth Institute Teens and four staff members attended the 2005 Y-Expo Conference in Orlando Florida April 13-17 to showcase the conference on film and to show their movies in the first ever YMCA Film Makers Voice Youth Film Contest. Congratulations to all of our film makers especially Phyras Men who won first place and Javier Vital who won Honorable Mention. To view the two winning Teen Movies click Leadership. Click here for Pictures.

4/02/05 - Forty Youth Institute Participants took part in YMCA Healthy Kids day and ran fun booths such as Face Painting, Crafts, Puppet Making and Prize Game Booths. Check out the event pictures.

3/26/05 - Forty five Youth Institute Alumni just got back from a unique trip to Yosemite National park where they hiked, climbed and even snow boarded. The weather was wet, but the water falls were spectacular!! Check out the pictures by clicking Yosemite Trip.

3/4/05 - Two Youth Institute staff and two Youth Institute alumni just returned from their Digital Storytelling project in American Samoa. The experience was tremendous with thirty high school students and ten ECDC staff learning how to make digital movies through the Samoan cultural experience. View movies by clicking American Samoa.

2/26/05 - CONGRATULATIONS!!! to Phyras Men for a great Teen Talent Show held on February 26th. Over 400 teens were in the audience as nearly fifty teens performed cultural dances, hip hop, rap, rock and other unique performances. The Teen Talent Show was funded by a grant that Phyras wrote to the Long Beach Youth Fund and also was sponsored by the Youth Institute. Click Lose Ya Breath to view pictures.

1/18/05 - The Y.I has compiled a teen resource DVD titled “R Point of View”. It encourages teens in Long Beach to get involved in their community. The DVD will contain a series of videos to promote Civic Engagement, Education, Entertainment, Recreation, Jobs and Volunteering opportunities. The Civic Engagement Video has been the first one released. The project was made possible through a grant from the YMCA of the USA.

12/16/04 - DIGITAL AMBASSADORS!! The Youth Institute will be traveling to American Samoa to teach Digital Arts through cultural experiences in American Samoa's new Creative Digital Arts Program modeled after our digital arts program. Click here to read more.

12/16/04 - CONGRATULATIONS!! To Prumsodun Ok, Youth Institute Alumni who has won a National Photography Contest through "Technology & Learning" magazine!! He wins a digital camera along with Adobe software worth over $1,000. The Youth Institute will also get the same award. Prumsodun is applying to Cal Arts and this will surely help with his portfolio. Also, he is on the front page of the LA TIMES in an article on Asian Americans in the United States. Click here to read the article.

12/15/04 - GREAT NEWS!! The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has awarded the Long Beach Youth Institute $30,000. The grant will be used to expand the Youth Institute by including more youth in the summer program and paying their academic stipends.

12/10/04 - The YMCA Youth Institute organized its First Annual Long Beach Community Technology Summit . Organizations from the city of Long Beach gathered to discuss different ways to better the community through technology. Among the organizations represented were CTOC, CTC-NET, Long Beach Public Library, Apple Computers, The Long Beach Boys and Girls Club, and the Girl Scout Council of Greater Long Beach. The project was made possible through a grant from the “Community Technology Foundation of California (CTFC)”. We thank everyone for making this event possible. Please click above to see video.

9/16/04 - GREAT NEWS!! The Long Beach Youth Institute received two grants; one from the "Community Technology Foundation of California (CTFC)." for the amount of $38,850 and the other from the "California Consumer Protection Foundation (CCPF)" for the amount of $25,000. These two grants will help fund the summer and year-round program with an emphasis on youth digital media. Thank you, to both of these foundations for their tremendous support.

8/28/04 -During the week of August 28th to September 3rd 2004, the YMCA of Greater Long Beach hosted the first ever YMCA Digital Arts Academy at YMCA Camp Oakes. Sixteen Youth Institute Peer Educators and four staff members of the YMCA of Greater Long Beach Community Development Branch/Youth Institute gathered together at Camp Oakes to teach digital arts to 50 Middle High School students. It was a great success! Six movies were made. See the Digital Arts movie Attached.

8/6/04 - CONGRATULATIONS!!! To the Class of 2004 for completing a successful summer, and for finishing their final movies. Click here to view.

5/19/04 - California State University Long Beach Department of Social Work has just completed a three part evaluation on the Youth Institute. The first part is a Summer pre-and-post assessment on Leadership Skills and Technology Skills. The second part is a Focus Group Report from both YI Alumni and the Class of 2003. The third part is attendance data on all activities from September 2003 to January 2004. And the last part is a tracking of all YI Alumni who are Seniors in high school or have graduated and who are attending college. You can view the evaluation and download it here. For more information on our evaluation, contact Dr. Julie O'Donnell at julieo@csulb.edu.

2/10/04 - GREAT NEWS! The Youth Institute was just featured in an article about after-school programs in California in the Los Angeles Times. Click here to read the article, which was published in the State version of the Califonia section on Thusrsday, January 29th.

1/29/04 - The Long Beach CORAL Youth Institute is proud to be a Spotlight Program in the 'Fight Crime Invest In Kids' report on the need for High School After School Programs. Read the report on their website, or click here to download the full report (957k) in PDF format. It talks about the disparity in after school programs for high school age youth in comparison to elementary age and middle school after school initiatives and the fact that over 80% of juvenile crimes are caused by high school age youth in the after school hours.

11/15/03 - We are back from our trip to San Francisco! Click here to check out photos from the trip, including our meetings with Apple Computers and The James Irvine Foundation.

10/20/03 - CORAL Long Beach just held its annual Family Picnic, which the Youth Institute contributed greatly towards. Click here to view some pictures from the event.

9/16/03 - Here is a link to Class of 2003 production teams' websites, which were created to support their movies.

8/4/03 - THEY'RE FINISHED! The Class of 2003 is wrapping up, and have just finished their final movies. Click here to view. Graduation is next Friday...

7/16/03 - The Alumni created a short commercial using some of the new class as actors.
Click here to view
.

6/10/03 - GREAT NEWS! We have been named a national educational technology model by Apple Computer! The story is on their website. Click here to view.

6/1/03 - The Youth Institute 2003 program update is now available. Click here to view.

4/26/03 - The 40 members of the 2003 Youth Institute have been selected. Congratulations to all of the new class! The new Youth Institute begins officially on June 16.

4/10/03 - Congratulations to the 17 Youth Institute alumni chosen by City Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal to sit on the first Long Beach Youth Commission for the First District, which will advise the First District City Council on public safety, recreation, and many other youth-related issues.

4/6/03 - Stevenson Community School has chosen 7 Youth Institute alumni to produce a promotional video for the DeWitt Wallace Foundation. The project should be completed in mid-June.

1/17/03 - The Youth Institute went to test out the country's first public wireless access point in downtown Long Beach. Here's what we found.

The YMCA Youth Institute is funded by: