YEAH!

Youth Empowerment for Access to Health

YEAH is a community-based program that aims to increase health and promote prevention through youth engagement, capacity building, and empowerment. Based in the community of Greenville, California, activities include Friday Night for Teens at the Indian Valley Recreation and Parks Community Recreation Center and leadership/team building activities in Greenville High School’s Associated Student Body program. Activities promote tobacco-free living, drug and alcohol prevention, healthy eating, physical fitness, injury and violence-free living, and mental and emotional well-being. Local health fairs, running and biking events, youth health summit 2011, and a photojournalism project on health communities are just some of the current activities youth are joining in. Contact Rachel at 530 284 1022 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

YEAH! is an acronym for Youth Empowerment for Access to Health, a program developed and administered by Sierra Institute. Supported by a grant from The California Endowment, YEAH! aims to improve health access and health outcomes through community engagement and, in particular, youth participation.

Mission Statement: The mission of the YEAH! is to increase health access and promote prevention and community health through activities that engage youth, build capacity, and empower youth in community-wide decisions and networking.

Philosophy: The project incorporates a philosophy that "The need for access to care is infinite, but there is also a need for health care that is humanistic and respectful: that builds trust over time and looks to the community to be the teacher. This kind of care does not simple bandage a wound, but helps to transform lives, both of patients, students, and physicians. This is what we aim to achieve."¹

Prevention Model: The project's goals for access to health care and promoting preventive health align with the county health agency's efforts to develop a comprehensive and integrated model of prevention. As described in the National Prevention Strategy called for by the Affordable Care Act, "prevention should be woven into all aspects of our lives, including where and how we live, learn, work, and play."²

Project Activities: YEAH! activities are based in Greenville, a rural community in Plumas County in the Sierra Nevada. Current activities include Friday Night for Teens sponsored by the Indian Valley Recreation and Park District at the Indian Valley Community Recreation Center and leadership and team building activities in Greenville High School's Associated Student Body program. Funding from The California Endowment will expand the outreach to more youths and enhance the quality of activities through access to youth development expertise and prevention research. Enhanced activities will incorporate evidence-based recommendations appropriate for youth for improving health in seven priority areas that include tobacco-free living, drug-abuse and alcohol prevention, healthy eating, active living, injury and violence-free living, reproductive and sexual health, mental and emotional well-being. Activities described further below have essential attributes that incorporate various modes of dissemination, communication methods, language, and cultural awareness and address multiple priority areas.

Peer2peer - the verse is a palindrome and is intended to connote reciprocity and a back and forth motion; activities refer to peer counseling and will require training and capacity building of counselors. Through our academic partnership with the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF), Division of Adolescent Medicine, we will provide training as appropriate. UCSF's capacity includes a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has worked in the Division and Education for more than 20-years.

Teach back - refers to the idea of mentoring in a reverse role of youth mentoring adults/parents. Examples of this activity include youth using technology to show adults how to send emails, photos, and search for health information, local resources, health insurance information, et cetera.

Photo Survey - activities will address how youths visualize a healthy community and will include photos and journalism. These activities and photos will contribute to the county health needs assessment and improvement plan that the hospitals, tribal clinic, health department and Sierra Institute are doing collaboratively. The health department in conjunction with Sierra Institute is one of twelve demonstration sites (out of 125 proposals) selected by NACCHO to conduct a health needs assessment and improvement plan. Youth activities will include capacity building and technical assistance.

La verdad - is the Spanish word for "the truth" and refers to raising awareness and providing education about risky behaviors including alcohol and drugs, tobacco, chew, et cetera. UCSF's Project Investigator is experienced in tobacco and chew research. Currently, she is working with the California Department of Education on Youth Development and will lend valuable expertise in these areas. Deliverables from these activities will include written briefs, words and music or paintings/murals to depict prevention or education on a topic.

Walkrunbike - refers to nutrition and physical activity. Activities might include youth participation in local walking, running, and biking events. Students will gather information on local activities, available resources, and create a calendar of on-going events. Through these processes, youth will start building blocks of a community of practice that can be developed more formally into a youth network. There is potential to develop higher-level activities that address policy or system changes related to bike lanes and side walks, for example.

YEAH! Power - start spreading the YEAH! A mantra for youth chanting!

Community of Practice

YEAH! activities will spawn development of a community of practice based on a shared focus. In Cultivating Communities of Practice, Wenger identified seven recommendations to cultivate communities of practice:³

1. Design the community to evolve naturally
2. Create opportunities for open dialog with perspectives from within and outside the group
3. Welcome and allow different levels of participation (core group, active participants, and
peripheral group who learn from their level of involvement
4. Develop both public and private community spaces
5. Focus on the value of the community and create opportunities for participants to explicitly
discuss the value and productivity of their participation in the group.
6. Combine familiarity and excitement - offer learning opportunities, brainstorming, and
examination of the conventional wisdom.
7. Find and nurture a regular rhythm for the community - coordinate a thriving cycle of activities
and events that allow for members to regularly meet, reflect, and evolve

CONTACT: To learn more about this and other health-related projects, contact
LOUISE STEENKAMP, MBA, Program Associate
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or
Jonathan Kusel, PhD, Executive Director,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

¹Dr. Ellen Beck, Director of the UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic Project in San Diego and a 2010 recipient of the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards. UCSD Student-Run Free Clinics

²The National Prevention Strategy: America's Plan for Better Health and Wellness. www.HealthCare.gov

³Wenger, Etieen: McDermott, Richard, Snyder, William M. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice (Hardcover). Harvard Business Press; 1 edition. ISBN 978-157853307.

Rachel McDowell Signs on with Healthcare

"Yeah!" voiced recent college graduate, Rachel McDowell, after receiving word that her internship with the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment came through. You can say that again! "Yeah!" also refers to the program that Rachel, a lifelong Taylorville resident, will be working on.

YEAH! is an acronym for Youth Empowerment for Access to Health, a program developed and administered by Sierra Institute. Supported by a grant from the California Endowment, YEAH! aims to improve health access and health outcomes through community engagement and, in particular, youth participation.

This program is part of a larger Sierra Institute community-based health program involving area adolescents. According to Rachel, "the great thing about YEAH! is that activities are designed around youth engagement, decision-making and leadership activities. It's a very empowering feeling."

Rachel is the first Health Intern at the Sierra Institute. The Institute deeply appreciates Dr. Vince Natali for his support of the health internship in honor of his wife, Gini Natali, long-time Sierra Institute board member and tireless advocate for the health of Plumas County children and communities.

Rachel is a graduate of Greenville High School and 2011 graduate from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a B. S. in Animal Science and Spanish. Her passion for improving lives of people living in rural communities motivated her to pursue opportunities in the public health arena. Rachel's experience in working with youth and the San Luis Obispo Health Department dovetail nicely with the shared internship program Sierra Institute and Plumas County Public Health Agency created. As a Cal Poly Student Community Services Youth programs coordinator, Rachel engaged community partners and organized volunteers to host events benefiting under-served youth.

Rachel is 'pumped' to be back in beautiful Indian Valley and excited to work with local youth. She will be involved with Friday Nights for Teens hosted at the Greenville Community Recreation Center, assist in the fall Health Summit, and contribute to the countywide health assessment and improvement plan, a collaborative effort of Plumas County Public Health Agency, the Sierra Institute, Eastern Plumas Health Care, Plumas District Hospital, Seneca Healthcare District, and Greenville Rancheria.

Get involved in YEAH! Contact Rachel at 530.284.1022.

Learn More

Read this project's blog for the latest news about telehealth in Plumas County.