We help high school students understand the local laws that shape their communities, and take part in changing them.
The Youth Civic Engagement Initiative is a student-run organization launched in Northern California in 2024. We have 14 chapters and, by our own count, more than 100 members.
One bill our founder worked on from inside a state senator’s office, a health bill for farmworkers, became California law in 2025. Most of the decisions that change a neighborhood are made locally, in meetings that almost nobody our age attends, so we read those bills, explain them in plain language, and work on the ones that matter most to the communities we come from.
Speakers at our events have included State Senator Josh Becker, Congresswoman Judy Chu and Congressman Ted Lieu.
What we do
We do four things.
1. Briefs
A brief is a short written report on one local problem: what it is, who decides it, what we found when we looked into it, and what we think should change. A chapter picks a problem in its own community, interviews people it happens to, and sends the finished brief to the office that can act on it.
2. Legislation
We work on bills that affect the communities our members come from. SB 338, which creates a state grant program for mobile health hubs in rural farmworker communities, became law in October 2025, and our founder supported it in its final stage from inside a state senator’s office. A second bill is being written now.
3. Offices
Our founder has worked inside a California state senator’s office and a Santa Clara County supervisor’s office. That is where you learn how a bill actually moves, who decides what, and how to write to an office so that somebody reads it. We teach the other chapters what we learn there.
4. Video series
A series of short videos, each explaining one local bill in plain English: what it does, why it exists, and who is for it and who is against it. The person on camera is a member who lives where the decision lands.
Where we are
Every chapter is led by the students in it, and each one works on the issues in its own city or county rather than on a topic we hand down. We are nonpartisan in what we explain, and when we work to pass a bill we say plainly which side we are on.
SB 338 became law on 3 October 2025
SB 338 creates the Virtual Health Hub for Rural Communities Pilot Program. It lets the State Department of Public Health fund partnerships of community organizations to run virtual health hubs, vehicles or portable facilities fitted with computers, Wi-Fi and exam rooms for telemedicine, in two rural communities chosen on farmworker population and access to care.
The idea came from Aisha Baro, who runs Life Science Cares Bay Area. She won State Senator Josh Becker’s There Ought to Be a Law contest with it in March 2025, and the bill was modeled on the Farmworker Health Equity Express, a service run by ALAS in Half Moon Bay. Our founder supported the bill in its final stage from inside the senator’s office, and wrote to the Governor asking him to sign it. Every vote on the floor was unanimous. The program starts once the law’s funding conditions are met and the department posts its notice.
Summer 2026 Conference: Youth Policy Advocacy Training
Our most recent event, on 24 July 2026. Online. 113 people signed up.
Five speakers talked to our members about turning a local problem into policy: State Senator Josh Becker, Congresswoman Judy Chu, Congressman Ted Lieu, Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, and Aisha Baro of Life Science Cares Bay Area. The whole session was recorded.
Get involved
Start a chapter
Three students and one local problem. That is the whole requirement, as long as you can name the office that decides the problem, and there is no fee.
Film an explainer
Pick a bill in front of your own city council or school board and explain it in a few minutes. We will help you find it and read it.
Contact us
Write to admin@youthcei.org. We answer questions from students, teachers, families and reporters.