YLF’s Empowering Approach

YLF was established based on the premise that youth with disabilities are highly capable. We encourage promoting greater expectations and raising the bar. Youth deserve to have the opportunity to demonstrate their talents and abilities. Youth bring so much to our communities and we celebrate their accomplishments.

We invite youth and families to access our resources, tools, and information that we share through our communications tools. For example, our website and social media.

Here are some of the options we offer:

-Events Calendar

-Enrollment Packet

-Portfolio Questionnaire

-Program Listing & Benefits

-Higher Education Network

-Resources: includes links to U of M mentoring and volunteer service tools

-Blog

-E-newsletter

Youth and families are welcome to use a of these free resources. We promote awareness that we are an available resource that can be utilized to promote personal and professional development to access expanded community opportunities. This can help to become more prepared for continuing education and employment. Please contact us if you need assistance. We hope to hear from you!

Our program empowers youth by providing a wealth of resources, while creating an expectation that they will engage by taking the initiative. If more direct assistance us needed, youth and their families may email or call us.

We are happy to provide facilitation support for a fee of $20 per hour. This may include researching volunteer organizations for positions, identify some to explore, applying and interviewing, and negotiating any needed reasonable accommodations to be successful. Support is based on input from youth who self-direct services, as well as their families.

We look forward to continuing to work with you!

Best regards,
YLF Team