Last Friday marked the beginning of something powerful for fifty high school students in the Inland Empire. The second cohort of the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project’s (CLYLP) Inland Empire Institute kicked off a three-day experience designed for students to build skills in leadership, civic engagement, and college readiness.
The CLYLP Inland Empire Institute, first launched in 2024, bringing together students from San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Over the course of the weekend, participants dove deep into workshops and simulations to expose them to the principles of government, community organizing, and public service. For most students, this was their first experience being civically engaged.
For Armando Carmona, a Jurupa Valley Councilmember and CLYLP board member, the program hits close to home.
“I’m a product of CLYLP,” Carmona says. “I was a participant in 2006 as a high school student, then a volunteer, a board member, and now I’m proud to facilitate this Civic Engagement Day.”
Carmona says the program goes beyond textbook readings, blending culture, education, politics, and advocacy into an immersive experience.
“We want people to be engaged in their local cities, in their local government agencies, and make sure that they’re advocating for what they believe is right in their communities.”
That message is landing with student participants in this program like Gerado Inzunza II, who says his understanding of civic life has grown dramatically in just a few days.
“Before this program, I didn’t really know anything about civic engagement,” Inzunza II shares. “I know my mom goes to meetings sometimes, but we don’t really talk about it a lot.”
What he found at the institute, though, was eye-opening.
“Seeing all the simulations of how civic engagement works is really powerful. I see how a community can come together and change their town, even their state. Knowing they have that power is really cool.”
The Inland Empire Institute is one of several regional programs run by CLYLP, a long-standing organization dedicated to uplifting young Latino leaders across California.
And for these fifty students, their weekend spent learning about civic engagement could be the first step toward becoming tomorrow’s leaders.
With KVCR News, I'm Justin Cody Verduzco.
