Young Aspiring Americans for Social and Political Activism (YAASPA)

Thank you Tashan, Melkamu, Jose, Adhieu, and Stacey for your presentation to the Youth Celebrate Diversity Council. From this presentation, the YCD youth council chose YAASPA to receive their first Human Rights Award! We are grateful to have our work recognized by our fellow youth led organization. YAASPA youth enjoyed the recent YCD Summit! Thank you YCD for the award, recognition of our work, and all that you do. Thank you Stacey for the acceptance speech. #strongertogether #YCDSummit

Thank you Chelsea and Jose for stewarding this space and partnership with Caring for Denver. Caring for a Denver we appreciate the opportunity to skill build with you all and thank you for the shout out! Repost from Caring for Denver Foundation: "📢 Youth Voices in Action! 🎉 As we move through our youth grant cycle, we had the incredible opportunity to meet with YAASPA youth to review grant proposals and hear their insights on what programs and interventions truly resonate with them. 💡 By engaging youth directly, we’re ensuring that our funding decisions uplift programs that reflect their voices, needs, and identities. This session also provided YAASPA youth with a behind-the-scenes look at how grant-making operates, from grant writing to impact evaluation—turning the process into a valuable learning experience! A huge thank you to these young leaders for their perspectives and participation! 🙌#

YAASPA connects our interns and fellows to internal and external workbased learning opportunities! Our policy fellow coordinator Ashley had the opportunity to be apart of the inaugural advocate program with Young Invincibles and her team won the policy pitch competition! "And the Winner Is… The winning pitch, the Colorado Employment Pathways Support Act, was proposed by Citlaly Quiroz, Manuel Marquez Avalos, Ashley Garcia Torres, and Stephanie Maldonado. Their innovative policy seeks to create employment pathways for undocumented students in Colorado, providing hope and opportunity for students striving to build a better future despite systemic barriers. Congratulations to the team for their inspiring vision and impactful work!" Thank you Young Invincibles And congratulations to Ashley and her peers who worked diligently in this policy pitch competition!

Yesterday, January 21st was the W.K. Kellogg Foundation National Day of Healing! Our MLK Jr. Summit was listed as one of the Colorado events to attend. There has been significant damage done in our sociopolitical context, but what can't be taken is our glow, joy, and love for one another in these times. We hope that as you scroll our smiles and joy gives you strength and hope 🙏🏾 And thank you to Jade with @webringthebooth for the lovely momentos for folks to take with them from out Summit! #howweheal #nationaldayofracialhealing

On this beloved Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Day, we want to thank everyone who came out and contributed to our Dr. MLK Jr. Summit last weekend! Jose led this year alongside a committee of amazing YAASPA interns and fellows! We will be dropping gems and gratitude this week reflective of the continued work necessary to live out Dr. King's legacy! Today, consider the fear and lack of communication that prevents us from building and healing relationships! What you see from our youth-led MLK Jr. Summit last weekend were opportunities for us to connect and get to know each other! Photo credit Celia Herrera

We had an amazing time at our Tacky Sweater and Karaoke Holiday Party with the ABC Collective and our beloved teams and community. Very grateful to Celia Herrera for capturing moments of joy. We have worked hard to ensure we are building a sacred space with the necessary anchors for the community hub to flourish! We appreciate everyone who has shown up for and with us 🙏🏾

We are excited to ease out of the year with joy at our Tacky Sweater and Karaoke Holiday Party December 20th at our ABC Community Hub at Paris Elementary 6 to 9pm. We will have: Chair massages Acupuncture Body butters Tea and cocao Dinner and more RSVP and see you there! https://lnkd.in/eviqnN4G

Ashley Garcia Torres has been working diligently in her collaboration with Brown's Promise to create a community education event ✨️ Join her in this unique opportunity by rsvp'ing! Way to go Ashley! See you there!

Way to go Stacey!!!

Our Ballot Mixer was a success 🙌🏾 Thank you to all who came to talk politics on a Friday night! Thank you to all who contributed to the civic literacy and wisdom shared! ACLU Colorado APS mill and bond Aurora NAACP CCSD mill and bond Colorado Civic Engagement Roundtable Coloradoans for Reproductive Freedom Colorado Fiscal Institute Congressman Jason Crow Great Education Colorado Just Vote Colorado Healing Denver Soul to Soul Sisters The Women's Foundation Last day until election day! Vote! Vote! Vote!