Description
About Youth Interactive:
Founded in 2012, Youth Interactive Santa Barbara (YI) is a creative entrepreneurial academy that empowers and employs youth in Santa Barbara County who are most in need, offering an intensive program of arts, creativity, and enterprise. YI bridges the opportunity divide and helps communities in Santa Barbara County sustainably overcome poverty and injustice by getting youth engaged in learning, job ready, and empowered by the skills of entrepreneurship, an educational pathway that until recently was only offered to high achievers.
YI is open 6 days a week starting at 9:00 am with staff on call 24/7 for any youth in crisis. YI is staffed by a large cadre of volunteers and alumni who are employed as youth leaders to support, inspire and work side by side with students.
At YI, staff and volunteer mentors work with low income, at risk youth to create real life businesses utilizing technology, art, and entrepreneurship. Over the past two years YI has created six youth led micro businesses.
Each of these viable microbusinesses allow youth to put their creativity and skills to work, build a resume, learn valuable entrepreneurial skills, and gain real life work while earning school credit and a paycheck. We transform students' experience of what learning is by bringing together strong academics, demanding technical & vocational skill, real-world business education & experience to help students gain an advantage in high school, college and career.
