Sunset Youth Services' mission is to foster long-term stability and growth in high-risk youth and families through caring relationships and supportive services. SYS’s vision is to be a robust community of thriving youth and adults making the sacred journey through life together.

SYS was founded in 1993 and currently serves more than 1000 youth and their families each year by providing juvenile and family case management services, school campus support and literacy enrichment programs, outreach and recreation programs and technology and digital arts training.

Case Management

Juvenile Case Management       
Juvenile Case Managers build lasting relationships with high-risk youth who are or have been involved in the juvenile justice system. They assess needs, identify options, work with the youth and family to develop a plan of action, and provide encouragement, support and advocacy along the way. The goal for each case manager is to build a relationship of trust and mentor the youth while meeting tangible needs.

Family Support Program
Our Family Support Program serves families in need or in crisis, particularly low-income families with young children. The Family Support Program Coordinator assists families in numerous ways, including finding housing, searching for employment, managing household finances and obtaining childcare. Family Support Groups ar held quarterly to support and educate parents and caregivers.

Boys Group      
Aimed at boys aged 8-11, Boys Group meets once a week after school. The boys learn how to work through conflict in healthy ways by interacting with each other and staff in different activities.

High School and Beyond Girls Group
High School and Beyond Girls Group helps young women navigate the storms of adolescence. This quarterly gathering presents social and recreational activities as a vehicle for building friendships and talking frankly about the issues that weigh heavily on young women's minds.

Middle School Girls Group      
Middle School Girls Group meets once a week to honestly discuss and deal with the burning issues that urban girls face, such as family dynamics, dating relationships, gender roles, drug selling and using, sex, STDs, pregnancy, violence and life goals. Facilitated by Sunset Youth Services staff, this group is specifically designed to help keep girls in school by providing positive peer and adult support.

Outreach & Recreation

Youth Drop-in Center
The Youth Drop-In Center provides an entry point for youth who are new to the program and offers a safe after school alternative to the streets. Youth use the internet, play video games, pool and ping-pong, watch movies, use DJ equipment and enjoy themselves while building meaningful friendships.

Trips and Activities
Sunset Youth Services aims to expand youths' minds and open up their worlds by exposing them to new experiences that will bolster self-esteem, foster friendship, and make for memories of a lifetime. From plays and amusement parks to horseback riding and camping-such trips and activities equip and prepare youth for the world beyond their neighborhood.

Free Lunch
This program provides free lunches to youth age 18 and under during the summer to make up for the loss of the free lunch many youth receive during the school year.

Family Food Pantry
The Family Food Pantry provides free nutritious supplemental groceries to low-income families in the neighborhood.

Community Festival
Sunset Youth Services is the founder and fiscal agency for the Annual Sunset Community Festival. The festival, founded in 1995 and organized in partnership with the Sunset District Neighborhood Coalition, draws up to 3,000 visitors and celebrates the community's diversity, bridging the divide between the many cultures and languages that coexist within the district. The festival offers exhibits showcasing public services and area businesses, and also provides entertainment and food vendors that reflect the rich diversity of the Sunset.

Sports Program
Sunset Youth Services has a comprehensive after-school sports program for low-income youth that includes choices, low adult-to-youth ratios, and fun and enjoyment to enrich their lives. Kids enjoy indoor rock climbing, team-building games, special activity trips, and a hip hop dance class. The program provides youth the option to participate in physical activities beyond the normal school day, promoting healthy lifestyles and a means to learn teamwork, sportsmanship, and fair play.

Campus Support and Literacy

Campus Support
Youth workers spend time on the campus of AP Giannini Middle School during the lunch hour in order to build relationships with youth and promote a positive environment where youth feel supported, heard and understood and are more receptive to learning and achieving their best. Such relationships present the forum for staff members to encourage youth to get involved in beneficial after-school programs and activities as well as respond to difficult or dangerous situations that arise in the lives of youth.

Literacy Enrichment & Skill Building
In collaborative with AP Giannini Middle School and the Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center, Sunset Youth Services provides a Literacy and Basic Skill-Building Class on the campus of A.P. Giannini Middle School. Taught by a dedicated teacher and supported by in-class youth workers, the class targets youth who often do not respond well to traditional academic structures.

Homework Assistance
The Homework Assistance program provides youth with drop-in access to staff and volunteers to support them on their daily homework assignments. Not being a traditional tutoring program this model allows youth to grow in areas that are challenging for them while completing their assignments.

Arts

Artistic Expression Program
The Artistic Expression Program is an innovative program that exposes youth to Digital Film Making, and Digital Audio Recording. With access to and training on state-of-the-art digital media and technology, youth learn marketable skills, build self-esteem and through films, documentaries, song, raps, poems, creative writing and dance, voice the pain and joy in their lives. This program is supported by staff and volunteers that are professionals in the music industry. Workshops in Writing for Music, Filmmaking, Making Beats, Final Cut Pro HD and Pro Tools are offered throughout the year.

Watch some films created by our kids at YouthSpace.net

Community Computer Lab
The Community Computer Lab provides youth and community members with access to and training on computers. Provided by a generous grant from Hewlett Packard, the lab is made up of 12 laptops, a printer, an LCD projector and wireless network access. The lab is available to the community during the day, including schools that use the lab for their classes and for youth after school.