Mission
With backbone support from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy in partnership with National Park Service and Presidio Trust, the PYC is leading an effort to engage Bay Area youth in the park today in order to open up opportunities for tomorrow. Through coordination and development of resources for organizations invested in youth working within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) and Presidio, PYC supports youth programs in reaching new levels of scale and impact. The PYC strives to harness the collective capacity of youth-serving organizations in the park to benefit young people on their pathway from cradle to career.
Vision
Youth throughout the Bay Area, especially those from communities underrepresented in national parks, have access to park lands and benefit from the park’s wide range of youth leadership and educational opportunities.
Funding for the Park Youth Collaborative is generously provided by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. Support is also provided by the James Irvine Foundation and Pisces Foundation.
Raenelle Tauro, Director
Raenelle is a seasoned youth worker with over 15 years of experience engaging young people and families. Combining her love for the outdoors with the desire to positively impact youth, she is thrilled to be a part of the PYC team, helping open more doors for young people to have meaningful and relevant experiences in the parks.
Jessica Chen, Program Manager
A San Francisco native, Jessica’s early park experience involved her role as a Crissy Field Center Youth Advisory Council member where she helped develop youth programs. With an educational background in social, cultural, and environmental influences on health, she hopes to integrate the outdoors and urban youth wellness in park programs, ensuring a new generation of thriving leaders and communities.
Christopher Cardinal, Database Administrator
Chris has a long history of working with conservation organizations. As database administrator at the Conservancy, he ensures that data is secure and accessible. When not working with conservation data, he can be found hiking both in the natural landscape as well as the hills and neighborhoods of San Francisco.
Dennis Chang, Project Assistant
Dennis is an alumnus of numerous youth opportunities in the park, which started with a middle school internship in the Urban Trail Blazers leadership program. His involvement in park programs inspired a passion for the environment and social justice, so he is excited to continue his park experience with PYC, providing administration and communications support.
Cal Joy, Consultant
Cal is a former teacher whose web and software experience includes work at CK-12, California Afterschool Network, The Body Shop and Mother Jones. In 2009, she received a Webby Award for her work on Edutopia.org. She joined PYC as a consultant in 2015, helping staff develop online tools that empower educators to deliver high-quality enrichment, camp and internship programs.