HCN's Ma'at Youth Leadership program brings together African/African-American/Black identifying transitional age youth from all over San Francisco. Peer groups empower youth via community building, advocacy, storytelling, and self-care activities. Ma'at youth leaders also learn life skills and receive one-on-one mentorship to help them set and achieve their own goals in areas such as education and employment.
De’Janay Mathews, Ma’at Youth Leadership Coordinator, regularly organizes Ma'at Youth workshops for program participants led by Black/African American community members.
Recently, De'Janay partnered with Leilani Marie from Creativelei Design on a series of workshops about digital design skills. Ma’at youth leaders learned to design and create their own logos, which were printed on shirts and bags for participants to take home (see some of the gorgeous logos pictured above!).
In the next workshop series, Ma'at youth leaders went from learning digital design skills to learning about whole-person wellness. Weekly workshops were led by community members including a nutritionist who spoke about food nurturing the body and mind, a personal trainer who spoke about the link between physical activity and mental health—including how exercise helps him deal with anxiety, and an HCN therapist who spoke about mental health and the impact of our surroundings on our mental wellbeing.
Want to learn more about HCN's Ma'at Youth Leadership program? Check out our blog posts about the Ma’at Youth Social Justice Showcase and Black Professionals Career Panel.