Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) is humbled to announce it is a beneficiary of generous support from the Ernest L. and Ruth W. Finley Foundation in its final year of granting new gifts to Sonoma County nonprofits. SAY CEO Anita Maldonado gratefully accepted the grant from Norma Person, the foundation's president,...
Read MoreLast month we worked on a special video featuring some of the youth that live at SAY. We planned to show it at our annual spring fundraiser, but like many organizations we had to cancel the event. This video shows a brief but mighty glimpse of our courageous youth and...
Read MoreIn the short time since our last update, our world and community continue to change. Everything that was familiar is now disrupted. It’s a very hard transition to make mentally, emotionally, and even physically as so much of our daily lives is different than even a month ago. We hope...
Read MoreSAY Friends, Supporters, and Partners: Each day we are waking up to new updates regarding COVID-19 and an ever growing list of changes we must make in our daily lives to slow the spread of the virus. This can bring up a lot of fear, anxiety, and even grief as plans...
Read MoreAs a youth-serving agency, the health and safety of young people in SAY’s care is our highest priority. As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread throughout the world, I wanted to share some of the actions SAY is taking to help protect you, our youth, and our staff. We are...
Read MoreJanuary is designated as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention month. The annual event has been recognized since January 2010 in an effort to bring attention to the epidemic of human trafficking in this country. Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons or modern-day slavery, is a crime that...
Read MoreSocial Advocates for Youth (SAY) is proud to announce it will be offering free counseling services for youth this winter at three Sonoma County Library branches. In partnership with Sonoma County Library, SAY’s mental health clinicians will be hosting a series of weekly and bi-weekly drop-in wellness groups for youth ages...
Read MoreSocial Advocates for Youth (SAY) is proud to announce its incoming CEO, Anita Maldonado, CEO of California Human Development. Anita brings more than 20 years of nonprofit and executive leadership experience to SAY, one of the leading youth service provider in Sonoma County. Working in the social services field since...
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Part of Social Advocates for Youth’s mission is helping young people become job-ready so they can secure gainful employment. As part of our Careers Services department, SAY’s Clean Slate tattoo removal program helps former gang-impacted youth remove their visible gang-related or unwanted tattoos. This critical service dramatically increases employment opportunities...
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This month, SAY was honored to host Sensei Isaiah Wisdom at the Dream Center to teach a free self-defense workshop for our youth. Sensei Isaiah is the owner of New School Aikido in Santa Rosa and has been a martial arts educator in Sonoma County for more than 20 years....
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