Our Youth Organizers

At YUCA, we take pride in our youth leadership development pipeline. YUCA is intentional about creating internal opportunities for growth for our young people. Youth who join begin as volunteers and are considered Members. After demonstrating the commitment and desire to be a decision-maker of the organization, they can apply to be Core Members. After two years of being a Core Member, youth have the opportunity to apply to be a Youth Organizer, which is an increase in compensation, additional responsibility, and decision-making power. Once youth have graduated high school, they can apply to be Senior Youth Organizer. The process from Member to Senior Youth Organizer is designed to prepare young people to be well equipped and competitive for becoming full-time staff members at YUCA.

Moana Kofutua

Moana immigrated from Tonga in 2016 at 14 years old. She went to a middle school called Liahona in Tonga, and also attended Burley Junior High School in Idaho, where she finished her middle school years. Later, she graduated from Belle Haven Elementary School. Moana recently graduated from Redwood High School and is a Senior Youth Organizer of the organization.

Hailey Romero

Hailey is a Freshmen at Summit Preparatory High School and lives in the G in East Palo Alto. She joined YUCA two years ago and is currently a Core Member. Hailey loves and is passionate about fashion. She is also an incredible writer and loves crystals. Hailey notes, “Attending YUCA, I've learned to do things out of love; with all the light around me, I became passionate to share that light, which I think is key to a successful organization. The campaigns we work on are a contribution to how we are shaping our societies and future. This is to say we discuss important topics and create intellectual guides specifically designed for people in our generation and future generations which I think is super important.”