Young Kentuckians Advocacy Program, or YKAP, is a statewide advocacy training program for students (grades 8-12) in Kentucky. As a hybrid virtual program, YKAP breaks down barriers of distance and time, providing a space for our Commonwealth’s brightest and boldest young minds to connect and work together to expand their abilities to make a positive change in their state and local communities. Through an advanced curriculum of workshops, networking, and special projects, YKAP student advocates develop real world skills, and work towards real world action.

YKAP 2024 consists of 7 sessions over the course of 2 months, from February to March. Each session is an hour and a half long, and sessions will occur every week. Alongside in-session workshops, YKAP students will have three projects to complete throughout the program’s duration: one main project that will be the program’s culmination, and two smaller projects over the course of the program.

Volunteers are key members of our YKAP team; There are five volunteer roles:

YAL Lead(s): Provides guidance to student advocacy leaders in supporting YKAP students.

YKAP Facilitator Position: Facilitators mentor and lead students through the program. Facilitators will be the backbone of YKAP, working closely with small groups of students to work towards their individual advocacy projects for a local or state issue of their choosing, as well as two smaller, mid-program projects.

Tech Assistant Position: Tech Assistants help YKAP run smoothly by helping manage Zoom meeting rooms and other technical/logistical matters during YKAP sessions.

Speaker Outreach Coordinator: This role will assist the YKAP program director in making outreach to state and local community and organization leaders and recruiting them as speakers for YKAP sessions.

Pre-Program Development: This role is for any volunteers interested in youth program or advocacy program development to help with the creation of program materials.

Facilitators shall plan to serve for an hour and a half on the following dates (times TBA). Dates marked with an asterisk (*) are set to be in person (location TBA):

• Tuesday, January 31st (YAL ONLY Training)
• Wednesday, February 7th (YAL ONLY)
• Saturday, February 17th* (YKAP ONLY Training)
• Wednesday, February 21st
• Saturday, February 24th*
• Wednesday, February 28th*
• Wednesday, March 6th
• Wednesday, March 13th
• Wednesday, March 10th
• Saturday, March 23rd*

Additionally, we are accepting pre-program volunteers interested in helping develop this pilot program, specifically in the creation of program pieces like workshops, facilitation scripts, and certain logistics. These volunteers will work with specific deadlines per project and will need to be committed to meeting said deadlines. If you are interested in youth program or advocacy program development, and would like to volunteer in this capacity, please email Nicole Hankins at nicole@kyymca.org.