Young Women+ Achievement, or YW+A, is an identity and culturally responsive mentoring program that works with local high school students of color of all gender identities in overcoming systemic barriers to success and bringing opportunity gaps.
The program encourages students to reach their academic and personal goals while building community and providing a sense of belonging for student populations who, at times, may have felt isolated.
The Young Women+ Achievement (YW+A) program expands the Latinx Achievement and Success (LAS) program to continue to support Latinx and Hispanic high school students while ensuring an inclusive program for young women of color as well as LGBTQ+ youth. The use of the word "women" is often a marker to queer youth that a space is potentially unwelcoming due to cisgender and heteronormative societal standards. By adding the “+” to “women” and using “women+”, we are offering a welcoming space for youth questioning their gender identity, non-binary and non-gender conforming students who present femme, and transwomen. You can learn more about gender identify here.
YW+A Advocates are college-age, cultural- and identity-responsive mentors and role models for the students in YW+, and, through their own lived experience, can help their students learn to navigate some of the challenges and systemic barriers they may face as they pursue their academic and personal dreams.
Interested in joining? Email Shiquita Yarbrough, Director of Community Engagement and Equity here.
YWCA Boulder County’s mission to empower women, and our understanding of gender identity has grown significantly since the organization was founded over 100 years ago. YW+A is a commitment to provide an inclusive, cultural- and identity-responsive forum for high school youth to connect at their own high school and across Boulder County high schools.
The YW+A program works in two ways:
In Person YW+A Groups
YW+A Groups will meet in-person at local high schools led by college-aged Advocates who share the identities of the students.
Virtual Support Cohorts
Virtual Cohorts connect and support students across high schools who participate in YW+A Groups, led by YW+A Advocates in an online forum.
YW+A Cohort groups will come together regularly to build community and a sense of belonging for student populations who, at times, may have felt isolated.
Latinx and Hispanic Success (LHS)
Black and African American Success (BAAS)
Asian American and Pacific Islander Success (AAPIS)
Queer Achievement and Success (QAS)
Multi-racial Achievement and Success (MAS)
YW+A meetings and activities will include topics such as:
Time management
Identity-affirming activities
Test-taking strategies
Mental health
College Tours
College Financial Aid (FAFSA)
Financial Literacy
Healthy Relationships
Field Trips and bonding activities like campfires and corn mazes, visiting local museums and cultural centers, ice skating, volunteer opportunities and more
YW+A Blog & News
