Applications for Youth Activist Network programs are open until May 3, 2026 so apply today!

Abortion Out Loud

• Activists leading the Abortion Out Loud project on their campuses host abortion speakouts, lead public education campaigns and work with campus, local, and state officials to strengthen young people’s access to abortion services.

Engaging Communities around HIV Organizing (ECHO)

ECHO is a program that supports young people living with HIV to become leaders in ending HIV stigma and criminalization. Focused on uplifting youth of color, especially Black and brown, Trans and Queer—ECHO members use social media, storytelling, and peer education to speak out on how HIV, racism, homophobia, and transphobia are connected. They push for youth voices to be included in decisions that impact their health. ECHO leaders also contribute to MyStoryOutLoud, a campaign that shares real stories from LGBTQ+ youth of color.

For more information contact [email protected]

Free the Pill Youth Council

The #FreeThePill Youth Council is a collaboration with Ibis Reproductive Health and is made up of youth activists from across the country to make over the counter birth control affordable and accessible.

Know Your IX

Know Your IX is a survivor- and youth-led project of Advocates for Youth that empowers students to end sexual and gender-based violence in their schools. Know Your IX activists  educate, train, organize, and support student survivors in their work to affect change in K-12 schools and colleges  across the country. Know Your IX also  advocates at the federal, state and local level for stronger Title IX processes and survivor-centered policy changes. For more information contact [email protected].

Racial Justice in Sex Ed Youth Advisory Council

The Racial Justice in Sex Ed Youth Advisory Council (RJYAC) is a dynamic cohort of high school and college students of color dedicated to advocating for racial justice in K-12 sex education. RJYAC promotes racial equity in sexual health education and beyond to ensure that curricula are inclusive, accurate, and culturally responsive. For more information contact [email protected]

Student Organizers

Student Organizers are high school and college student leaders who serve as activists, advocates, and spokespeople at the local, state, and national level. With the support of Advocates for Youth, they lead issue-based campaigns for school, local, or state policy changes that support young people’s sexual health and rights. Some of their campaigns for change in their communities include organizing for free menstrual products, free condoms, gender neutral restrooms, and other issues in the fight for comprehensive sex education, contraceptive access, abortion access, LGBTQ health and rights, and HIV prevention. For more information contact [email protected]

YouthResource Leadership Program (YouthResource)

YouthResource Leadership Program is designed by and for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people of color. LGBTQ youth apply to the program and, if successful, attend a five-day intensive training institute to help them hone their advocacy and mobilization skills. YouthResource members then work throughout the year to advocate for improvements in policies and practices that impact LGBTQ youth of color, on college campuses and at the state and federal level. YouthResource members contribute to MyStoryOutLoud, a digital storytelling campaign dedicated to uplifting the narratives of LGBTQ+ youth of color nationwide. For more information, contact [email protected]

YWOC Leadership Council

YWOC members are leaders in their schools and communities. YWOC was founded in 2001 as a group for women of color, with the addition of nonbinary activists in 2020.  It was created because of the exclusion of people of color in feminist spaces overall – especially within leadership roles.  We are challenging cisheteropatriarchy – not just patriarchy – and this space is for both women and nonbinary folks and women working together to defeat our common enemies: reproductive oppression. We aim to create a strong intersectional movement for bodily autonomy, and work to build on what’s done by feminists of color before us to become stronger than ever and win real change for ourselves and our communities.