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CYANOnline
California Youth Advocacy Network

July 15 - 18, 2024
Happy Valley Conference Center
Santa Cruz County

About

CYAN’s annual statewide conference is designed for youth who are working on making their communities smoke and commercial tobacco-free, and offers them the opportunity to learn more about advocacy and practice their skills.  The summer conference strives to strengthen youth engagement in local policy, systems, and environmental change efforts by providing young people with training on a variety of skills and topics related to coalition development, data collection, public speaking, community engagement, and working with decision makers. The conference offers a unique learning opportunity for youth to learn about current smoke and commercial tobacco-free policy initiatives and utilizes Live Action Roleplay activities for participants to practice new learned advocacy skills.

Event details

The conference will be held on Monday, July 15 through Thursday, July 18, 2024 in Santa Cruz County at the Happy Valley Conference Center. The conference begins at 3:30pm on July 15th and ends by 1:00pm on July 18th to allow travel time to/from Santa Cruz. Each conference day includes a mix of learning new content, participanting in skill-based activities, and free time (i.e., hiking, swimming, crafts, etc.).

Participants

Youth who are entering the 9th-12th grade in the August/September 2024 school year and who are working with California Tobacco Prevention Program (CTPP)-funded projects are invited to attend. At this time, coalitions can register up to two adults and five youth to attend; however, organizations can request to add more youth participants to a waitlist, if space permits. Please note, youth must attend this conference with an adult coordinator from a CTPP-funded organization.

Cost

There is no cost to attend this event. CYAN will provide all participants with food and lodging. Organizations needing assistance with travel can indicate their needs on the registration form. CYAN is able to provide travel scholarships for any program unable to attend due to limited funding for travel.

Informational Webinar - May 9, 2024 @ 10:00am

CYAN is hosting an informational webinar on Thursday, May 9th at 10:00am - 11:00am to provide an overview of this year’s event and conference outcomes. There will be time during the webinar to answer any questions about the conference including registration and travel.

 

Registration

Registration for this year’s conference will be open until Friday, June 7. Registration will include a two-step process.

The first step of registration will provide initial coalition information. Coordinators will need to provide their name, contact information, name of coalition, and the anticipated number of youth participants. 

The second step for registration will be to register youth partners and complete require conference documents. After registering a coalition, the registered adult coordinator will be sent a unique Google Doc to register youth partners and note any dietary restrictions as well as registration packets for all youth and adult participants to complete.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can youth attend without an adult partner?
This event is designed for youth working at the local or regional level on smoke/commercial tobacco-free initiatives. This work is traditionally done in partnership with a local tobacco prevention program. Thus, youth interested in attending will need to attend with an adult partner from a local or regional program. If a young person is interested in attending but not involved in local/regional commercial tobacco-free activities, please contact kim@cyanonline.org and the CYAN team will connect you with local coalitions.

How much does this event cost?
This is a free event. Funding for this event is provided by the California Tobacco Prevention Program as part of a grant to California Youth Advocacy Network to promote and support youth and young adult engagement in California’s tobacco prevention movement.

Can CYAN help pay for travel?
CYAN has a small budget to support coalitions with traveling to the event. Limited travel scholarships are available and will be determined on an as needed basis. When registering, coalitions can request financial support for travel.

Who can participate in this conference?
Youth and adult partners working on local or regional commercial tobacco-free initiatives in California can attend this conference. Because this conference is geared towards youth coalitions working on local policy, systems, and environmental change, all youth attendees must register as part of a local or regional coalition. 

What age group of youth can attend?
This conference is designed for high school-age youth. Teens currently in or entering high school in Fall 2024 are invited to attend this conference.

How many people from each coalition can attend?
Due to conference site capacity, each coalition can bring up to two adults and five youth partners. If a coalition is interested in bringing more youth or adults, please contact CYAN to be added to the waitlist.

Do participants get any conference materials?
Materials will be provided to all conference participants. These materials include educational materials and resources to support conference activities.

Are TUPE Programs eligible to attend?
If a TUPE Program is working in partnership with a local/regional CTPP-funded program on community-based interventions, they are invited to attend the event with youth partners. However, a representative from the CTPP-funded project must be one of the adult partners attending the conference.

 

Additional Questions?

If you have additional questions about this conference, please don’t hesitate in contacting our team. All questions can be emailed to Jocelyn Rodriguez at jocelyn@cyanonline.org.