After-school youth substance use prevention to develop youth leadership capacity: South Tucson prevention coalition phase 1

This chapter is about South Tucson Prevention Coalition (STPC) Phase 1, which was an after-school prevention program for teens. In a low-income barrio where issues of substance abuse, underage drinking, and high teen-pregnancy were prevalent, insiders of this community created the Omeyocan Youth Empowerment and Sexuality (YES) program. Omeyocan YES was a dual-gendered adolescent project based on Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy model. The Omeyocan YES project was progressive, and was effective in meeting the socio-political interests and needs of the urban Latino/a Chicano/a youth of this community. The 13-17-year- old youth who participated in the program became critically conscious of the issues affecting their community, and afterward many became activists and led their own community transformation projects. The Omeyocan YES project is a reminder that leaders and youth, using a critical curriculum and revolutionary pedagogy, can transform themselves. The results of Omeyocan YES built the foundation for STPC Phase 2, which focused on community transformational resilience.