Abstract
Within the City of South Tucson, Youth-to-Youth (Y2Y), a positive youth development program, operates within the John Valenzuela Youth Center. A youth-led and adult-guided group, they partnered with South Tucson Prevention Coalition to prevent, reduce, and delay youth substance use including alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, and methamphetamines. In the following narratives, the voices of the youth are given a platform in which to tell their truth. Youth leaders Oscar Ceseña, Alejandro Gallego, and Michal Urrea discuss their community, their involvement with the program, and the power of the youth voice. Ultimately, seeking out opportunities to better themselves and their community, they were able to successfully organize and enact positive change to develop community transformational resilience. Collectively, their stories and reflections highlight the power of the positive youth development program when youth are included as equal key stakeholders.
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Muraco, J.A., Meza, E., Ceseña, O., Gallego, A., Urrea, M. (2016). Youth Perspectives on Youth Power As the Source of Community Development. In: Romero, A. (eds) Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3_7
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