We are calling on you with an urgent need to speak out against coal and environmental racism at the Oakland City Council Meeting Tuesday May 16th at 6pm. SIGN UP HERE Meet at 6 pm at Oakland City Hall (1 Frank Ogawa Plaza) Share on Instagram Share on Twitter Share on Facebook We are fighting coal in Oakland because of the issues it brings to us and our communities. We already are exposed to toxic air quality and suffer health effects like asthma, cancer, cardiovascular issues among others. We have been fighting this issue since 2015 when we first learned that Phil Tagami and his coal develop ..read more

On February 6th, 2023, Oakland Tech student leaders organized a block party vigil to honor the legacy of Tyre Nichols. Moved by the horrific murder at the hands of five officers, Georgia Wallace and Satya Zamudio took the initiative to mobilize fellow Bay Area youth from their school and outside to express their pain and find solace in community. Students engaged in music, public speaking, and art to denounce the anti-blackness embedded in the Criminal Justice System's policies and procedures. A mural was painted on Broadway advocating for the end of state violence. About 100 to 200 people att ..read more

YvA’s first ever San Francisco Cohort launched in February of this semester! This Spring Cohort is a weekly space for students of color and low income students in San Francisco to learn about and organize for intersectional climate issues. This is YVA’s first such climate justice program specifically for SF students! We're now about halfway through our program with our small cohort learning about climate injustice issues and their related community organizing efforts, specific to the Bay Area and San Francisco. Our 9 cohort members are from schools and neighborhoods all across the city, many s ..read more

Are you a student? Do you want to do more with YVA to fight for climate justice and liberation? Come join YVA's weekly virtual campaign or team meetings! Mondays @ 5:00 PM: Creative Writing Workshops with Hip Hop & Climate Justice - Contact Mondays @ 6:00 PM: No One Is Disposable youth action planning team - Contact Tuesdays @ 6:00 PM: Divest CalSTRS campaign meetings - Contact Tuesdays @ 7:00 PM: No Coal in Oakland campaign meetings - Contact Thursdays @ 5:00 PM: Hip Hop & Climate Justice planning meetings - Contact Thursdays @ 6:00 PM: CA Youth Vs Big Oil campaign meetings - Contact ..read more

On March 24-26, 2023, 4 student leaders (Marlay'ja, Zara, Sam and Bre'Asia) from Youth Vs Apocalypse and the Divest CalSTRS campaign traveled down to Los Angeles to lobby the California Teachers Association to support Senator Gonzalez's bill for divestment SB252 (Fact Sheet) at their quarterly State Council of Education meeting. Pause. Who is the California Teachers Association? The California Teachers Association, or CTA, is one of the largest and most powerful teachers' unions in the state. They represent over 310,000 educators across the state and pride themselves on being powerful advocat ..read more

We are super excited to finally have introduced in the state Senate a bill that would require the country’s two largest pensions, CalPERS and CalSTRS, to divest from fossil fuels. We are extremely honored to be working with Senator Lena Gonzalez, who introduced SB1173 The Fossil Fuel Divestment Act, alongside co-author Scott Weiner and co-sponsors the California Faculty Association and Fossil Free Ca. The bill was introduced on Thursday February 17, 2022 to the Senate Divestment bills have suceeded in California in the past 10 years including 2015’s SB185 a bill mandating the pensions divest f ..read more

On 9/24/2021 youth form various parts of the Bay met at Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco to March with YVA and demand intersectional climate justice. We wore red, orange, and yellow to symbolize the wild fires raging through CA. Demands Stop Line 3 End The Filibuster Pass The 3.5 Trillion Reconciliation Bill No Drilling Where We're Living Pass The Green New Deal We'd like to extend a big thank you to our strike cosponsors: Warriors For Justice, Amazon Watch, Student Environmental Resource Center at UC Berkeley, CODEPINK Women for Peace, Sunflower Alliance, East Bay Democratic Socialists of ..read more

Without consequences, the U.S military extinguishes significant natural resources around the world, destroying people’s lives and livelihoods through the physical violence of polluting the land. The US military is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, releasing some of the highest CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. The same military that targets youth of color and low income youth for recruitment also contributes to the pollution plaguing their neighborhoods, and the climate disaster they feel the most. How can the U.S military fight for “freedom” and trample on the freedom to bre ..read more

Youth Vs Apocalypse has been selected for Blue Heart Act's 2022 Grassroots Giving Guide! Art by @celestialterrestrial / @ampliferart Every donation you make to YVA for #GivingTuesday and during the end of the year will be matched by @BlueHeartAct! Each year, Blue Heart releases a Grassroots Giving Guide to elevate the work of under-funded, grassroots organizations who are boldly building the power across the United States. Please support YVA by donating today! After you donate make sure to report your donation ..read more

YVA’s sixth annual spring fellowship is now taking applications! We are so excited to be in community again this year with new fellows ..read more