The 2016 Western Region Youth Forum! was held at Baker Hall School on August 25th.  The focus of this year's forum was Trauma- Informed Care and Resiliency.  Youth Power! is open to young adults age 12-29 and utilizes peer-to-peer mentoring to encourage young people to become more active citizens, develop an awareness of the government and using their voices to support change. 

The WAY Program is proud to introduce, former WAY student, Stephanie, who is a Regional Team Leader in Youth Power!  Stephanie exhibits the qualifications for a Youth Power! Team leader; a role model who is looking for change in her community, respectful of each person and their individuality, and an advocate for what is right. 

Stephanie shared her experience as a Regional Team Leader:

"As one of the regional team members for youth power, I was lucky enough to not only attend this event at Baker Hall in Lackawanna, N.Y., but also be a part of it, and help run it with the great honors of working with such  great regional team members. At this event we talked about trauma & how it effects people in different ways. This event was to help engage youths/young adults to come together as one and speak out about their experiences in the system and the things that they would like to see change. Youth power is the NYS network of young people who have been labeled and are seeking change. Together we have decided to speak up about our experiences because no one knows what it is like for us better than we do."

We are very proud of the work that Stephanie has done and we wish her well in all her future endeavors!