our commitment

 Since 2012, the Legacy Youth Project (LYP) is an Ethnic Studies and social justice leadership program committed to the healing, transformation, and liberation of Napa Valley youth. Through our Heartwork Pedagogy, we cultivate humanizing opportunities for our scholar warriors to lead, rejoice, and thrive.​

our founding purpose

The LEGACY Youth Project (LYP) was co-founded in 2012 by a small group of youth who sought to transform their legacy in Napa, California. With the guidance from Omar Salem (Napa Resource Officer) and Carlos Hagedorn (Ethnic Studies Professor), the founding team partnered with each other to better understand the unique needs of Napa’s most precious resource, its youth. To proactively address conditions giving rise to “at-risk” consequences within our schools and community, our program developed into a courageous learning environment where we see, hear and love our youth.

Rooted in Heartwork Pedagogy, our grassroots program provides students in 5-12th grade a nurturing and positively challenging space to connect with their hearts and minds, to heal and flourish. LYP cultivates humanizing learning opportunities for our students to develop as critically conscious thinkers, with the agency to transform our local and global communities. Our transformative success has garnered local recognition through numerous publications and national attention through the documentary, the Mask You Live In. Grounded in Our Heartwork, the LEGACY Youth Project has become an example of educational equity for scholar warriors in the Napa Valley.

program growth

As our need and capacity grew, our program expanded. 

It [the LEGACY Youth Project] is changing student lives... We’d like to replicate the program into our middle and high schools because they are reaching students that we could not reach before. - Dr. Patrick Sweeney, Former NVUSD Superintendent 

Year 0: 2012-2013

The founding team started the LEGACY Youth Project at Vintage High School in the Fall 2012.  After much advocacy, the after school "once a week gatherings", turned into a weekly academic class with 10-12th graders in Spring 2013. ​

YEAR 1: 2013-2014

Our founding small group expanded into a full size class of 10-12th grade students at Vintage High School.  

YEAR 2: 2014-2015

With the leadership of powerful young sisters, the program expanded to a co-ed class of 10-12th grade students at Vintage High School.

YEAR 3: 2015-2016

LYP grew to serve students from 9-12th grade with the creation of 2 cohorts (classes) at Vintage High School. Simultaneously, the first pilot program for 7-8th graders began at Silverado Middle School, totaling two school sites.

year 4: 2016-2017

The urgency to serve younger youth inspired the first pilot program for 5-6th grade youth at Napa Valley Language. Additionally, our second middle school program began at Redwood Middle School. Simultaneously, our program continued at Silverado Middle School and Vintage High School, totaling four school sites.

YEAR 5: 2017-2018

In our fifth year, we provided five classes at four school sites, serving 100+ youth from 6-12th grade. Our educational pathway bridged our middle to high school program at Vintage High School.

year 6:​ 2018-2019

In our sixth year, we provided seven classes at five school sites, serving 190+ youth from 5-12th grade. We expanded to Harvest Middle School, and added a new section of sisterhood at Redwood Middle School. 

year 7:​ 2019-2020

In our seventh year, we provided five classes at three school sites (Redwood Middle School, Harvest Middle School, and Vintage High School) serving 118 youth from 7-12th grade.