Youth Development Peer Network

Yas(min) Ahmed (Co-Program Manager) has been working with young people since she herself was sixteen. The fact is, she's fairly confident she'll still be doing it when she's sixty. That vocation has taken her to the worlds of institutional philanthropy, community organizing, health education and policy advocacy; she has served as a trainer, convener and program manager within those capacities. She has a lot of bicoastal love in her heart, as she calls Oakland home and works with amazing organizations like Third Wave Foundation (www.thirdwavefoundation.org) in NYC.  Like a good little alumnus of Antioch College, Yas is passionate about gender justice and intersectional politics. When she's not causing a ruckus in queer and Arab communities, chances are she's holed up somewhere writing, playing records or watching a creature feature. Extra shiny: in 2006, she was selected as one of the real hot 100 (www.therealhot100.org), a national contest flipping the script on what "hotness" really means among progressive young leaders.

Jason Wyman (Co-Program Manager) has been in the field of youth development for over 15 years. He started by supporting a youth philanthropy program in Minneapolis Unified School District and worked his way up to become the Educational Program Director at the OMI/Excelsior Beacon Center where he brought school, youth, and community together to address the academic, civic, and mental health needs of the student population. From there he launched into supporting the next generation of youth workers by creating trainings, resources, and networking opportunities through Beacon Academy, the Afterschool Corps, and the Youth Worker: Collective. He worked as the Director of School-Community Relations at Excelsior Middle School and directed the Change! Program, the community engagement program at EMS. Jason has been involved with the Youth Worker: Collective since 2003, and he is excited to be the first staff of the Youth Worker: Collective. When he is not advocating for youth and families, Jason enjoys cooking, reading, and hanging out with his husband.