YES Weekend Workshop: Giving Back and Growing your Community (in-person)
Friday December 8 3:00 PM – December 10 12:00 PM, 2023
Volunteerism plays a crucial role in many aspects of college and career journeys. Whether you’re wondering how to add some of those volunteer hours to a college application, hoping to find ways to gain experience as you chose a career path, or want to socialize with others and meet new friends, join us this December to discuss and learn about how to get involved in your community, while giving back to others. Hear from blind and low-vision mentors about various volunteerism endeavors and how they first got involved, ensured things were accessible, and benefited from their experiences. The weekend will culminate with students volunteering themselves to throw a thrilling holiday celebration for their youth program friends. Join us for an exciting weekend of growing independence, giving back, and getting to connect with mentors and peers!
YES (Youth Employment Services) workshops are monthly weekend-long learning experiences for youth and young adults who are enthusiastic about realizing their dream careers, emphasizing the vocational enrichment of low vision and blind youth, providing access to a multifaceted array of mentorship, employment readiness skills, and alternative accessible techniques. Each YES workshop focuses on a specific theme and offers an array of self-advocacy, assistive technology, living skills, and soft skills curricula empowering students to strive toward future employment or post-secondary educational success. The weekend is spent learning from blind and low vision mentors, connecting with blind and low vision peers, and engaging in creative hands-on activities which further support youth to explore and achieve their individualized and professional goals.
Students will hear from blind and low-vision mentors about their education and career journeys, and how their varied volunteer opportunities impacted their experiences and growth.
Participants will have opportunities to practice their advocacy skills during conversations and role-playing exercises focused on accessibility barriers when seeking volunteerism opportunities. They will learn new strategies from mentors, talk through concerns they might have about stepping into these new environments, and have time to ask questions.
Students will hone assistive technology skills by researching volunteer opportunities that might be relevant to them, navigate online volunteer applications, and work on putting together updated resumes.
The over-night nature of the YES workshop provides opportunities for students to refine their workplace readiness soft skills including effective social and professional communication and independent living all while building community with their blind and low vision peers and mentors.
When: Friday December 8 3:00 PM – December 10 12:00 PM, 2023
Who: Blind and low-vision youth between the ages of 16-24
To apply: Contact Daisy Soto at dsoto@lighthouse-sf.org or 415-694-7328. Please be sure to include your DOR counselor’s contact details so that updated authorization information can be shared.
*Note: This is a DOR-funded program, and we ask that you please RSVP with us one week prior to the event (December 1).