Mission Positive Agents for Community Transformation (MPACT) and Washington Positive Peer Pressure (WPX3) are chapters under the California Friday Night Live Partnership (CFNLP) – a statewide youth development organization that builds youth as active leaders and resources in their communities by addressing topics like substance abuse. At yli, we apply a social justice lens to the work, shifting focus from individual behaviors to the larger patterns of environmental injustice that target young, low-income people of color and encourage unhealthy behaviors and negative stereotypes.
Youth learn to identify issues in their communities, conduct research, and implement media education campaigns, which helps shape powerful advocates who can create lasting change in their communities in the context of alcohol abuse through a social justice lens. For example, youth-led media campaigns have highlighted that far fewer young people drink alcohol than is commonly perceived, and that demographics can strongly influence a young person’s decision whether to drink.
MPACT, based at Mission High School, and WPX3, at George Washington High School, create media campaigns using a Youth-Led Action Research model under the Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol curriculum. Youth share results of their research through media education campaigns — like posters they design and share with other youth at their school as well as social media campaigns or a digital zine — to provide positive peer pressure to encourage healthy behaviors.
In 2021-2022, youth created the above PSA and these posters, sharing positive messages and resources with their community.
Past projects have included this digital zine offering narratives on the impacts of alcohol and tips for managing stress in addition to a resource guide of organizations based in the SF Bay Area, and this podcast on racism, discrimination and targeting in the Bay Area!
Interested in joining?
High school students (9th-12th grade) at Mission and George Washington are welcome to join our meetings. Please note that to officially be a part of the program, prospective participants are required to submit an application. The program meets weekly on campus for 2 hours for 24 weeks (not including breaks or holidays).
For more information, please contact Mary Toni Cerrado at [email protected]!