YAB applications are now closed for the 2024-2025 cycle. Please check back in June for updates regarding the YAB Cycle 2025-2026. Thank you for your interest.
Meet the Stanford REACH Lab Youth Action Board!
The Youth Action Board (YAB) is a group of young people driving change in drug prevention education, culture, and policy. The aim is to inform youth about tobacco, cannabis, and other substances.
The YAB started in January 2020 with a small group of twelve youth from the San Francisco Bay area and one youth from North Carolina (who met with us via FaceTime). Some of the youth were from high schools associated with a school-based health center or wellness center, others were youth who were googling and seeking information about tobacco prevention and found our lab. A few invited their siblings or friends to join the YAB. When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, we pivoted to Zoom and have been meeting there ever since. As of 2021-2022, the YAB has envolved into an internship program. Youth join committees that focus on research, education, policy, and/or communications. The YAB curerently is made up of 35 high school and college youth from California and beyond (Michigan, Texas, New York, Maryland, Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois and the country of India).
The goals of the Youth Action Board are to:
- Change the culture of drug or substance use
- Connect with other youth people
- Empower young people to take control of their health
- Advocate for policy change
- Channel the power of youth voice and youth-centered issues
Understanding the Minds of Young Voters:
Encouraging Young People to Vote
Check out this talk including some of our YAB members, Riya and Ishmeet:
YAB Committees
Partnered with Stanford REACH Lab, the YAB consists of four different committees that tackle various topics: education/curriculum, communications, policy, and research.
