COYN Member Youth Fellowships
COYN Youth Fellows are nominated young adults ages 18-24 that represent their local COYN member site. The fellowship is a two-month program where the Fellows focus on hearing from youth in their respective areas on what they want to see in their communities. The Fellows utilize the info they gather to make recommendations to best incorporate youth voice within the COYN work at large!
Current Class Fellows
COYN is currently accepting nominations for the Spring ’24 Cohort. Click on the nominate tab above to learn more.
Previous Class Fellows
Fall 2023
Jennevie Contreras
Fall 2023 FellowJennevie Contreras works with the Los Angeles TAYportunity Program. She’s from Bell Gardens, California, and her mission is to inspire youths with a stronger sense of self-worth so they understand they hold the power to strive for success and fulfill their dreams..
John Morales-Castillo
Fall 2023 FellowJohn Morales-Castillo was born and raised in San Jose, California. He has a passion for traveling, learning, and giving back to his community in any way he can.
Steven Recinos
Fall 2023 FellowSteven Recinos, born in Palm Springs, is interning for OneFuture Coachella Valley located in the Coachella Valley. There, he demonstrates community leadership by helping fellow photographers through scouting locations, planning and organizing shoots, and teaching techniques to create wonderful images revolving around mental health. He also volunteers his time and photography services to the Boys & Girls Club of Cathedral City.
Fernanda Robles
Fall 2023 FellowFernanda Robles interns in San Jose, CA. She advocates for Opportunity Youth by attending. focus groups to provide her lived experience and insight to help combat the issues facing youth today.
Spring 2023
Olga Alvarez
Spring 2023 FellowOlga lives in Los Angeles, and is a member of WIOA program at Coalition for Responsible Community Development (CRCD). Olga helps with the food distribution program at her local community center.
Eveny Felix
Spring 2023 FellowEveny works in Coachella Valley, Palm Desert, CA, and is the current president for the Fostering Knowledge Club at College of the Desert. I’m also a leadership member of OneFuture Coachella Valley’s Opportunity Youth and Young Adult Alignment Team.
Kevin Garciz
Spring 2023 FellowKevin Garcia is from Koreatown. Currently, Kevin is an intern with Anti Recidivism Coalition (ACR).
Tania Godinez
Spring 2023 FellowTania Godinez is from San Jose, CA, and supports undocumented students through the Almass program. Tania also helps immigrants find the path to citizenship through the Shine program.
James Jacobs
Spring 2023 FellowJames is from the city of Los Angeles, CA. James is currently involved with the TAYportunity GI Program.
Briana Nguyen
Spring 2023 FellowBriana is from Anaheim, CA, and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside. Briana’s current involvement is Doing Good Works in Irvine. Briana’s previous experience includes involvement within the Youth Leadership Program at Casa Youth Shelter in Los Alamitos, CA. She attended their 15th Annual Youth Leadership Conference in 2017, and attended other community events and weekly meetings with other youth leaders in the program.
Fall 2022
Oscar Rendon
Fall 2022 FellowOscar is from Aurora Colorado and enjoys investing his time building meaningful relationships through leadership opportunities and community involvement in San Diego County. Oscars has served as the 19-20 student body president at San Diego City College, outreach ambassador for the San Diego community college district, project coordinator for LGBTQ asylum seekers at the Border Butterflies Project funded by Familia Trans Queer Liberation Movement and techire for YouthWIll.
Evelyn Camarena
Fall 2022 FellowEvelyn was born in a small town in the state of Washington. She moved with her famil to California when she was 7-years-old. She loves living in California because it has great cultural diversity.
Jacob Virges
Fall 2022 FellowJacob is a passionate and dedicated Community Worker and Spoken Word Artist. Jacob uses his talents and time to bring more attention to youth voices as well as speak against the many injustices in the System. Jacob has worked with non-profits like One East Palo Alto, Live and Peace, and Jobtrain, to name a few. Jacob works to guide his peers and the people around him to discover their purpose and how their voice, along with action, can change the environment around them.
Brenda Guizar
Fall 2022 FellowBrenda was born and raised in Compton. Brenda works at Compton Youthbuild and has been involved in COYN’s Youth Policy Committee since 2021.
Alexandro Ortega
Fall 2022 FellowAlexandro is a young leader with the Youth Liberation Movement, and a first generation Mexican-American. Alexandro works to utilize his experience through personal hardships to provide a different perspective and great solutions that will impact his community in a positive way.
Summer 2022
Marcos Banuelos
Summer 2022 FellowA Public Relations Major at California State University, Long Beach, Marcos has dedicated
his time and talent to support events and organizations to increase resources and opportunities in his community.
Josh Delgado
Summer 2022 FellowCurrently enrolled in the Indio Youth Opportunity Center in Indio CA, Josh graduated from Amistad High School. He enjoys new experiences and helping others.
Jocelyn Gama
Summer 2022 FellowHailing from Oakland, California and born in Jalisco, Mexico, Jocelyn attends UC Berkeley where she majors in Legal Studies with a double minor in Education and Global Poverty and Practice. She remains committed to critical dialogues throughout the city, nation, and the world in order to advance the cause of justice.
Jesus Martin Gallegos
Summer 2022 FellowA recent UCSD graduate, Jesus-Martin serves as a Youth Commissioner for the City of San Diego where he advocates for youth services and better representation. Through his COYN fellowship, he works with the agency Youth Will and addresses youth justice, education, employment, and youth-driven focus and success.
Nominations for the Next Class of Fellows
Nominations are now being accepted for the Spring 2024 cohort fellows.
How To Nominate Your Spring 2024 Fellow
Each local COYN member will nominate one young adult ages 18-24 to be their local Spring ’24 COYN Fellow by April 05, 2024.
Each site will send a nominating email to Karen@newwaystowork.org, along with a participant one-page essay that details why youth leadership is important. Please place the applicant’s name and personal e-mail at the top of essay.
Spring 2024 Fellowship Duration
The Fellowship will run between April 15th- June 14th. Fellow will work at the local nominating site. Each member will have responsibility for supervision and direction of the Fellow.
Project Goals
The Fellow will support the site’s youth community outreach efforts, design of youth community input processes, assist in delivering a youth survey, and develop a project documenting youth leadership effort. Fellows will intern at their host location approximately 20 hours per week and are paid a predetermined stipend for their time.
For More Information
Laura C. Romero, PhD
lromero@brillantestrategies.com