Youth Yoga Dharma

P.O. Box 3452
Daly City, CA 94015-3452
Telephone: (650) 992-9642
Website: www.youthyogadharma.org
Attn: Cator Shachoy

Description

Youth Yoga Dharma ("YYD"), partnering with schools and community organizations, teaches youths in disadvantaged communities in San Francisco the skills of mindfulness meditation and yoga. Free on-site programs are offered to youths, parents and staff of youth organizations in order to help youths develop inner resources, cultivate skills to face life's challenges, and offset stress, anxiety, and depression. Practicing mindfulness offers choice and clarity of action. Through sitting quietly and observing the activity of the mind with compassion, young people learn that they do not have to react to thoughts or feelings. Increased joy, decreased anger and violence, as well as a positive attitude towards life, are natural outcomes of these disciplines.

In April of 2009, the Foundation made a grant of $2,000 to Youth Yoga Dharma to support a program of 400 hours of meditation and yoga classes at 15 sites.

In May of 2010, the Foundation continued its support with a further grant of $2,000.

Results / Update

Thank you for your generous support of Youth Yoga Dharma over the past year. Your support has contributed to the on-going growth and development of our agency as we refine our work with youth. With your help, in 2010 we provided 90 program hours contacting almost 250 youth and adults at 6 sites around the city of San Francisco. 2010 program sites included the Visitacion Valley Boys & Girls Club, Dr. Cobb Elementary School in the western Addition, James Lick Middle School, as well as Civic Center, School of the Arts, and Lowell High Schools. We participated in the Young Women's Health Summit, a joint venture between UCSF National Center for Excellence in Women's Health and SFUSD High Schools. This project is an annual event, and was initiated by US Representative Jackie Speier a decade ago as a way to increase leadership in young women through empowering and educating them on relevant health and social issues. We were invited to join this event again in 2011. Requests for our involvement have come directly from the young women high school students in SFUSD each year.

In addition to our program offerings, the generous support of Lenz foundation has allowed us to participate in the Soul of Money trainings with Lynne Twist and her exceptional team of fundraisers. This training has been both inspiring, and eye opening. At this time we are considering how to best integrate these new skills, and share the benefit of our participation with our greater community.