Opportunities for Students

Youth Outreach Workers (YOWs) are middle or high school students that apply and are trained to become peer educators for their school. Many schools have 5-10 YOWs; however, larger schools can have more as volunteers. There are over 200 middle and high school YOWs in SFUSD. YOWs work with an adult youth outreach coordinator to develop their own school wide health events and health related classroom presentations that students face today such as healthy relationships, stress reduction, and negative impacts of substance abuse.

It has been proven that students tend to listen to their peers better than the adults. The YOWs play a vital role in empowering and educating their peers to make healthy choices, reaching thousands of students annually. YOWs are ambassadors for health and wellness.  

"Foodwise Teens is a paid job training program where teens build skills to sustain healthy lives and a healthy planet. Students learn about food justice, develop job skills, and get hands-on experience in the garden, in the kitchen, and at the farmers market, while getting paid for their work. Learn more about how our Foodwise Teens program has been adapted during the pandemic.

Foodwise Teens is for high school students. Our current partner schools in San Francisco are The Academy - San Francisco @ McAteer, John O’Connell High School, and Mission High School."

"Health Initiatives for Youth is a multicultural organization whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of underserved young people through innovative youth leadership, popular education and advocacy, in pursuit of multi-level social change."

The San Francisco Wellness Initiative is a groundbreaking program dedicated to improving the health, well-being and academic success of the city’s 16,000 public high school students at 19 campuses. In safe, confidential settings, experts in adolescent health at onsite Wellness Centers help teens gain the skills they need to cope with complex issues such as stress, trauma, suicide, bullying, depression, self-esteem, drug and alcohol use, sexual health and relationships. Students learn positive, lifelong habits that contribute to their well-being and success, and ultimately, to the health of the communities in which they live.

The Wellness Initiative is the only school-based program for adolescent health and wellness of its kind. The Initiative is made possible through a unique partnership between the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF), the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH) and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). By leveraging the resources of each agency, student health is addressed from a citywide perspective.

Find out if your school has an SFUSD Wellness Center!