December 31st, 2023
Dear RIT Community,
As we close out one of the toughest years in recent times, we want to uplift one of our youth programs that gives us hope for a better future.
RIT Youth Wellness Ambassadors at the end of the school year celebration, May 2023
We are proud to share with you our new Youth Wellness Ambassador Program at San Francisco International High School (SFIHS), a school serving newly-arrived immigrant and refugee students and an RIT partner since 2009. Building on our existing multilingual in-class support, RIT started a new initiative called the Youth Wellness Ambassador Program. Funded initially by the Governor’s new Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications (OCPSC), RIT has recruited 9 SFIHS students from Colombia, Yemen, and China to share messages in Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, and English about COVID and vaccines in order to keep other students and their families informed and safe. The Wellness Ambassadors even hosted a vaccine mobile clinic in partnership with San Francisco International High School, San Francisco Public Health, OCPSC, and Mission Neighborhood Centers.
The program has been expanded to cover information about Extreme Heat, Water Conservation, COVID, and Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). Wellness Ambassadors meet weekly and partner with their peers to prepare presentations. They share knowledge and resources with approximately 222 SFIHS students in 9th to 12th grades annually. This program is just one example of the amazing work of RIT’s Youth Leaders.
COVID vaccination mobile clinic outreach by the Wellness Ambassadors at SFIHS
A Wellness Ambassador presenting about COVID, RSV, and Flu at one of the classes at SFIHS
For more information about RIT’s Youth Leadership Program, take a look at a recently published article entitled “Refugee and Immigrant Youth Leaders: Strengths, Futurity, and Commitment to Community” co-authored by several RIT team members. This article is based on a research study that looked at RIT’s Youth Leadership/Peer Tutoring Program in 2018. Read the article here.
Similar to what we’re finding in the Youth Wellness Ambassador Program, the research showed that peer-to-peer learning allows participants to co-learn and increase connections across cultures, languages, and people. It also found that newcomer youths not only want to succeed individually but also want to give back to their communities and families.
The Youth Wellness Ambassadors spoke at RIT’s recent Community-Centric Fundraising gathering which was hosted at our newcomer’s hub in Oakland. The theme for the event was WE: WEllness, WElcome, poWEr, and WEaving communities together. The Youth Wellness Ambassadors shared that providing information they learned is a way for them to give back to the community.
Wellness Ambassadors speaking at RIT's Community-Centric Fundraising gathering in Oakland
Ammy, RIT Wellness Ambassador from Colombia, said “I joined the program because I want to create experiences for me and the immigrant students because as the school receives people from different places like China, Ukraine, Vietnam, Yemen, and many Latin American people, we have many languages the RIT program is helping… so I joined to help other students.”
Another Wellness Ambassador, Reem, who came to the US in 2021 from Yemen, is learning English and said, “I wanted to learn about new things. Last year we learned about COVID-19. This year, we are learning about Extreme Heat and new things that I have never knew about….”
To watch the Wellness Ambassadors’ full speech, please visit this link.
Wellness Ambassadors with RIT staff member, Grace, at RIT's event in October.
The Youth WEllness Ambassadors hope and dream to create a WElcoming and safe space for other immigrants where the newcomers feel safe to share their culture and language. They want to remind newcomers that we all have poWEr and belong in this country.
At RIT, our vision is to welcome and partner with newcomers who have sought refuge in the Bay Area, so we all collectively thrive in our shared community. Programs like the Youth Wellness Ambassador not only promote public health safety but also allow us to continue building on our collective vision. Additionally, programs like this nurture leadership, communications, and community-building skills for the newcomer youths and communities they impact.
We are grateful to community members like you and our dedicated staff and volunteers for your continued love and support. Please consider supporting RIT so that we can expand our Youth Leadership Programs and increase connections across cultures and people as well as provide opportunities for youth to co-learn and give back to their own communities.
With gratitude,
RIT Team