Breaking the Cycle of Generational Poverty

Over 50 years ago, Young Community Developers (YCD) was established in response to racial barriers that prevented Black families, who migrated to San Francisco for wartime jobs, from securing employment. In 1973, 15 young Black activists marched down to City Hall, demanding $75,000 to train their community members for the available positions in the Bayview-Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Originally designed as a workforce development program, YCD has since evolved to include a vast variety of wrap-around services, now serving 2,000 community members annually. YCD takes pride in offering a wide range of programs that serve the whole human, from workforce development and education, to housing and re-entry support.

“As an organization, we’ve gone from just workforce development to saying we want to break the cycle of generational poverty,” says Dion-Jay Brookter, CEO of YCD and longstanding member of the San Francisco community. “To do that, it’s complex. Every single person has different needs, different challenges, and needs different resources, in terms of how we overcome barriers.”

But YCD rises to the challenge by individually tailoring their support – which starts as soon as a community member walks through their doors. 

“I never want anybody from the community to feel institutionalized, as if they’re going into a program,” says Brookter. “We have this intake form that allows us to internally share where this individual needs to go based on the need and the funds that we have.”

Within its first pillar of focus, Workforce Development, YCD offers job readiness training and employment support services to its customers ages 18 and over. As part of the Workforce Development suite of services, YCD runs a Neighborhood Job Center (NJC) in Bayview, which offers crucial employment services for ages 16 and up. 

To support students throughout their educational journey and beyond, YCD has developed a career and college readiness pipeline that starts in high school, in partnership with 100% College Prep. While in high school, the program helps students identify pathways for success as they transition to the next stage of their journey. After high school, YCD works with students in and out of college. The organization offers programs for full-time summer internships, they provide specialists who work closely with students who might experience behavioral challenges and they work within Black Student Unions, which help Black youth develop leadership skills and prepare for college and careers, while also running after-school tutoring programs. Additionally, YCD has a post-college fellowship program, which provides full-time paid career internship opportunities to recent graduates. 

YCD launched its third pillar, its housing division, in 2014, when gentrification began to drive Black families out of their neighborhoods and out of the city overall. YCD created a new area of practice, helping build new affordable housing, acquiring and preserving existing housing, advocating for policies that prioritize Black households, and offering direct services to prevent displacement. 

As YCD continues to grow, Brookter emphasizes that the secret sauce is their team members. Nearly 35% of YCD’s team members reside in San Francisco, and many are former participants of YCD’s programs. These “rock stars,” as Brookter calls them, bring valuable firsthand experience to their roles, offering unique insight into what works, what doesn’t, and what the community truly needs. 

“Every day I get to wake up and help people. That is my job. But for me, it’s also my purpose,” says Brookter.