Seedlings

A new month is here and it’s National Teen Self-Esteem Month. Did you know that nearly 20% of teens experience depression before reaching adulthood? During the pandemic, about 44% of teens in the US said that they felt persistently sad or hopeless. 

Throughout the month of May, we want to encourage you to join us as we spread an extra dose of love for teens this month. Think of a teen in your life that you can reach out to and inspire confidence. Here are some ideas on how you can love teens in our community this month: 

• Communicate. Give them a phone call or send them a text filled with positive words. Think about what fun qualities about them shine and share the details with them!
• Prioritize Quality Time. If you’ve got a teen in your life, make time to hang out with them. Get to know them a little better, find out what their interests are, and be a loving listener who delights in who they are.
• Cheer Them On. Inspire confidence by acknowledging and affirming their gifts and talents. Notice the things that sparkle about them and point them out! For the things they might struggle with, remind them that they CAN do hard things and explain why you believe in them.
• Encourage Them To Practice Self-Care. Whether eating or cooking a delicious meal, going on a walk in the park, or writing in a journal, engaging our senses is a great way to practice self-care. It keeps us grounded, releases endorphins, and decreases our stress levels.
• Teach them the Language of Emotions. We help teens build their emotional vocabulary when we normalize speaking about feelings and model coping strategies in our day-to-day interactions. Validation goes a long way to building self-confidence and reassures teens that emotions are part of the human experience.

For more ways to support teens in our communities, you can check out some of the incredible agencies (below) that we partner with here at Family Giving Tree. We also partner with various middle schools and high schools during the school year to support students with brand new backpacks and school supplies during our Back-to-School Drive. Volunteer Registration opens on May 18th. If you're interested in volunteering to help young scholars in our communities, sign up for our email newsletter.

Here are some amazing agencies we partner with around the Bay Area to uplift teens in our neighborhoods:

• Youth Utilizing Power & Praise (YUPP). YUPP's mission is to develop and enhance cross-cultural networks, that enhance the whole being through music, dance, drama, fine arts, public speaking, and sports.
• Teen Success Inc. builds pathways to prosperity for two generations—young mothers and their children. They believe that education is the key factor in breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty faced by young families.
• San Pablo Youth Commission (SYPC) advocates for community concerns through empowering youth to become positive agents of change. Through voice and representation in City government, SYPC aims to achieve sustainable change in our community. Coming together from our different ethnicities, ages, and schools, we are one.
• Boys & Girls Club of Silicon Valley. The Boys & Girls Club of SV inspires and empowers all young people, especially those who need us most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring adults.
• Various Middle Schools and High Schools in the Bay Area. You can see a full list of schools we partnered with in the past here. (*Please note that this list of schools was supported during our 2021-2022 BTS Drive. Changes in our list may occur during the 2022-2023 school year.)