Introduction

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF YOUTH PROGRAMMING

HISTORY

Founded in Oakland, California in 2000, the FACES for the Future program was conceived as a direct response to two significant problems facing diverse communities:

A lack of support and opportunity for youth seeking options to improve their lives through education, career training and healthy choices
A lack of diversity in the health professions that directly contributes to worsening health disparities in diverse communities

FACES for the Future addresses these goals by connecting schools, healthcare organizations and professionals, and community benefit organizations. Jointly they provide a cohesive system of support for youth to ensure that we have highly qualified, multi-lingual and multi-cultural health care professionals to meet the growing demand of the workforce.

The FACES program was quickly identified as a best practice model and given its recognized success, FACES for the Future programs were established in other regions of California and nationally.

THE FACES PROGRAM MODEL

All FACES programs provide Four Core Components:

Health Career Training and Work-based Learning: includes internships in hospitals, community clinics, mental and behavioral health agencies, public health departments and health-focused community-based organizations
Academic Support: this can include tutoring, college application preparation and financial aid and scholarship application support
Wellness Services: students are assessed for environmental stresses that may be negatively impacting the achievement of academic goals. They are then connected with outside resources when needed, including counseling, medical homes, housing and food resources. In addition, programs provide wellness trainings around such topics as mindfulness, healthy relationships and self-advocacy
Youth Leadership Development: includes opportunities to provide peer health education, participate in public health conversations about issues impacting their communities, and being activated around health disparities

There is no minimum G.P.A. for participation in our programs.

All programs operate during the academic year and students receive credit for participation. All programs include internships and most students graduate with 6-8 rotations in various departments, clinics and agencies.

We have programs that focus on clinical careers and medicine, public health, mental and behavioral health, and global health.

THE FACES COALITION

The FACES for the Future Coalition, established at the Public Health Institute in 2011, is an extension of the effort that began when the first FACES for the Future program was established in Oakland, California.

The FACES Coalition is the backbone organization that supporting a collaborative of national programs – all based upon the FACES model.

The Coalition provides:

Technical assistance: including staff training, on-going fund development support, strategic planning, alumni engagement and communications
New Program Development: including stakeholder engagement, program design and planning, administrative support including affiliation agreements
Evaluation and Standardized Practice: providing common data tracking and reporting, best practice revisions and
Curriculum and Materials Development: including workshops, templates, internship supervisor materials, branding guides and so on