Click HERE to read PHI’s impact piece on our San Francisco program!

 

This week was an exciting one for the FACES for the Future Coalition!  Not once, but TWICE, the FACES program was highlighted at the 2020 American Public Health Association virtual conference  (https://www.apha.org/ ).

First, FACES was presented as a promising practice program model for our work in the National Diversity Workforce Pipeline Program in partnership with the Office of Minority Health (OMH) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Over the past five years with OMH funding, FACES continued program growth in California; began expanding nationally in New Mexico and Michigan; developed standardized protocols, evaluation metrics, curriculum and staff professional development tools that support programs; and innovated with projects like “Innovations in Simulation” – a partnership with Samuel Merritt University.  During that time, 407 students speaking 26 languages were supported with safety net wellness services, given access to internships and mentored by health professionals. 99.5% of the students graduated from high school on time and 97.4% were engaged in post-secondary health career paths including employment, professional certification and 2- and 4-year college.  We are SO proud of all of their hard work! (https://apha.confex.com/apha/2020/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/474400 )

 

Second, FACES worked with Dr. Lynn Silver and Dr. Alisa Padon at Public Health Institute to learn more about changes in youth perception and usage of cannabis after legalization. Leveraging the FACES network of programs, staff conducted surveys, held focus groups and worked with students to identify key factors in youth marijuana usage. The FACES team also worked with youth on identifying opportunities for advocacy focused on delaying first age of usage and thinking through the reasons that young people may be using marijuana.  Funded by the Conrad Hilton Foundation, the findings of this project will help inform policy and advocacy efforts on the issue moving forward as we continue to work to protect the health and well-being of young people.  (https://apha.confex.com/apha/2020/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/481261 )

We want to thank all of the partners who make this work possible. We celebrate this week with you all and we celebrate the amazing, resilient young people we work with every day.  They teach us and show us a more equitable and promising future than we could imagine on our own.

FACES for the Future Coalition is PROUD to announce our first cohort of council members. As you may already know, FACES for the Future is 20 in 2020! To celebrate this important milestone, we established a FACES Youth Advisory Council. We had an overwhelming number of applicants, and after careful deliberation, FACES for the Future Coalition welcomed 10 council members representing alumni and current students from various FACES program locations. Each Council member brings a unique set of skills, leadership experiences, and passion to contribute to their communities.  

The purpose of the FACES Youth Advisory Council is to create a platform for young people to express their perspectives and experiences and advocate on behalf of youth. Youth voice is an integral aspect to FACES for the Future Coalition’s work – and hearing from young people helps us to provide relevant, innovative programming that matters to our students.

Aisha Sharif Ali – San Diego, CA

My name is Aisha Sharif Ali and I’m a junior who goes to hoover high School. I was raised in a small town in  Mombasa, Kenya in the African Continent and came to the United States about four years ago.  Raise as a child of two cultures: Swahili and Somali, I became fluent in both my native languages ( along with English) making me trilingual. Ever since I was a child, I knew that I wanted to help people. I wanted to be able to aid and show compassion to others to make the world a better place. In the future, I plan on being in the medical field. I know that this is something that I want and yearn for because I am so passionate about goals and my dreams of being in the medical field and that’s why I was interested in being apart of FACES Youth Council. Throughout this program , I hope to gain experience , allow me to expand my horizons and do something that I am interested in. I also wants  this opportunity to also help develop my leadership skills so that I could gain new abilities in a new domain.

 

Alexa Davis – Sacramento, CA

Alexa Davis is a senior in high school at Health Professions High School. She is a devoted and determined student. Alexa is passionate about ending the stigma around mental health. She plans to go on to be a psychologist.

 

 

Alondra Carranza – Hayward, CA 

Alondra Carranza is a caring and compassionate individual that explores her horizon. She hopes to become a health care worker in the medical field.

 

 

Thang Huu Ho – San Diego, CA 

Thang Huu Ho is a rising senior from Crawford High located in San Diego, California. He has held five leadership positions within various on-campus clubs and is dedicated to speaking his opinion. He immigrated from Vietnam when he was three and experienced first-hand the adverse effects of poverty. This experience inspired him to express his voice in this council and ultimately pursue the medical field. He hopes to make a positive impact on impoverished communities like his through the YAC.

 

 Kenia Andrade – Albuquerque, NM

Kenia Andrade is currently a senior at South Valley Academy and a first-generation immigrant student. She comes from a very diverse background and uses that as a way to advocate for the communities around her. She is very committed to being a member of the YAC and hopes to become a successful neonatal nurse in the future.

 

 

 

Lyanna Chan – S. Alameda, CA

Hi! I’m Lyanna Chan and I am proud to be a part of FACES’ first advisory council. I live and grew up on a  small island across from the San Francisco Bay called Alameda, California. I graduated high school in 2020 and have been with the FACES for the Future program since my Sophmore year of Highschool in 2017. Being in the FACES for the Future program introduced me to explore all my passions I’ve withheld from the healthcare field. It allowed me to not only learn about how these professionals make an impact on our community but allowed me to think of innovative ways I could modify the field to accommodate to the upcoming generation and modern times. FACES for the Future set me up with the appropriate connections, workplace expectations, and build my courage through preparing me to achieve and obtain my CNA certificate at 17 and find my first job. As a participant in FACE’s first advisory council, I want to help give participants the confidence that they are equipped, acknowledge, and maximize their experiences. I have always been interested in the medical field, and thus Faces has really allowed me to explore my pathway in health care. But not only does my heart lie in healthcare, I also play badminton, piano, and love to go hiking. I will be attending USF this upcoming fall 2020 to pursue my passions in nursing. The Faces academy afforded me to test my limits as I pursued my passion for patient care and earned my CNA certification.

 

Giselle Aguayo Ramirez – San Francisco, CA Alumnus

Kenia Andrade is currently a senior at South Valley Academy and a first-generation immigrant student. She comes from a very diverse background and uses that as a way to advocate for the communities around her. She is very committed to being a member of the YAC and hopes to become a successful neonatal nurse in the future.

 

Kristina Tran – Alameda County, CA Alumnus

Kristina is currently pursuing an Associate’s Degree in Biological Sciences. She plans to transfer to a four-year institution afterward. Kristina enjoys being outside and spends her free time doing art or exercising. Her long term goal is to become a physician assistant or to work in the pharmaceutical sciences.

 

Annarae Serrano – Albuquerque, NM Alumnus

Annarae is 19 years old. She is a  freshman at Fort Lewis College majoring in exercise physiology. Annarae is Mexican, Navajo, and Hispanic. She uses her diverse background to help many communities and to bring diversity to a variety of places. She hopes to be able to bring change to her community and all over the world.

Lupita Medrano – Oakland, CA Alumnus

Lupita is a FACES alum from the 2011 Oakland program. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Feminist Studies with a concentration in Technology, Medicine, and Science from UC Santa Cruz in 2015. She currently works as a Program Coordinator and Health & Career  Course Instructor for The Dr. Barbara Stagger’s Community Health Adolescent Mentoring Program (CHAMPS).