YSA carries out its mission through engaging participants in an arts-focused youth leadership curriculum that provides a stipend for participants, and by providing transitional housing and case management at the Tiny House Empowerment Village (THEV) in Oakland. We provide physical and mental health care, life skills and job readiness workshops, weekly community support meetings, academic support, and arts and writing sessions, all in a youth-led program. YSA case managers help youth access public benefits and enroll in public health insurance. Our youth organize frequent public events like art exhibits and open mic nights, and they learn to use their voices in civic engagement. YSA’s art programs offered at our Berkeley studio include mural creation, fashion (design and sewing), performing arts (theater, signing, and recording and producing), creative writing, and portrait painting. Each program incorporates healing elements and participants can access life-skills workshops and interpersonal support groups. Each 9-week program session culminates in a public exhibit or performance.

YSA has pioneered providing transitional housing to transition-aged youth in the East Bay with the creation of THEV. In addition to 22 tiny houses for youth, the village has two on-site resident manager living units and two large yurts that provide a kitchen/dining room and a community room/maker space. Youth residents are grounded in wrap around services and job skills training. Case management services are delivered with a commitment to Housing First principles and include assessment of needs, development of an individualized service plan, ongoing support and coordination with other service providers, and responsiveness to crises/emergencies. YSA hosts a Healing Clinic at the THEV each year, at which youth can access a variety of healing modalities like yoga, massages, somatic healing, Reiki, and herbal remedies, as well as engage with music, foods, and play.