February 2023 | eNewsletter

Dear Friends,

Every year, the return of our core camp programs brings a new level of energy and excitement that carries us through the season.

We kicked off this month with the opening of Summer Camp registration, providing trusted and engaging camp opportunities for Richmond youth at no cost to families for the 24th year. Nearly 50 campers got a taste of what they may look forward to this past weekend at our annual Winter Camp in the Marin Headlands, which returned this year as an overnight experience for the first time since 2020. As spring approaches, our team is getting ready for two weekends of Family Camp and a handful of close-to-home Camp Days in our regional parks, making sure everyone has an opportunity to try out the summer camp experience. Read on to meet one very important member of the YES camp team.

Camp isn’t the only thing to be excited about, though. Our second annual Down by the Bay benefit concert is just three months away on May 20th, and sponsorship opportunities and ticket sales are right around the corner. Keep an eye on your mailbox in the coming weeks for a sneak peak of the inspiring YES community members who will share their stories with us at the event, and learn the impact these formative camp experiences have had on their lives. 

And of course through it all, our youth programs are busy exploring and learning about the nature around us through after-school meetings and weekend outings. Check out the youth cohort updates below to learn what they’ve been studying and to see proof that last month’s wet weather didn’t deter them from getting outside.

I’m grateful everyday that YES gets to do this work and being able to share it with you makes it even better; the next few months are full of opportunities to connect with YES in the outdoors and I hope you will join us!



In community,

Before he discovered YES and Richmond, Mark was living in New York and working as a corporate lawyer when a series of personal and global crises forced him to question how much he was sacrificing for his career. In 2008, he left his East Coast life in search of play, sunshine, and something new, eventually joining family members in California. Along his journey, Mark attended a retreat where he was inspired by a facilitator’s ability to make everyone feel connected and safe. “He turned us inside out, he helped us take off all of our defenses and drop superficiality and social masks,” Mark reflects on the moment he thought, “I want to be able to do that.”

After going back to school to study integral psychology, Mark’s work with youth-serving organizations led him to a YES volunteer training on trauma-informed care in 2016. “It felt very integrating to be in the YES community[...] I just wanted to be around what YES was doing,” he remembers. Since his introduction to YES, Mark has spent over 250 hours volunteering and facilitating social-emotional education and wellness for staff, youth, and family programs. “Social-emotional skills give access to full self and create opportunity to connect fully with others,” he explains, “it’s the soil on which everything else grows.” 

“YES is indiscriminately embracing this warm, wholesome, informed version of care–I’ve never seen this anywhere else. Everyone is empowered, everyone is finding their voice, everyone is standing a little taller.”

This understanding isn’t something Mark came to through education alone, however. When he was just 16, Mark’s family fled their home in Moscow ahead of Russia’s attack on neighboring Chechnya and landed in New York as refugees. As a teen in a new country, Mark says his lack of a strong socio-emotional foundation left him with “autonomy without understanding what to do with it… I felt that my life was lacking depth and richness and care.”

Now as an adult, Mark has grown roots in Richmond with his partner and fellow YES supporter Lucia, where he’s committed to helping youth and adults alike establish and nurture the social-emotional skills that allow them to live rich, connected lives–and lucky for us, he’s continued his work with YES. “There's a flavor to YES’s work that just pulls me in. You can’t explain it unless you experience it yourself,” he concludes.

Tap the button below to volunteer with our programs and see for yourself what Mark means!

Where Pinole, Richmond, and San Pablo meet, you can find a reprieve from the hustle of industry and city traffic. Despite covering nearly 2,500 acres of land and having three access points, Point Pinole Regional Shoreline can be tricky to find on your first visit–but once you step onto the trails, you’ll be so glad you made it.

The park’s somewhat remote location lent itself well to its former life as a dynamite and gunpowder manufacturing site, where heavy trains would roll through the once-busy Atlas Powder Company station. Before that, Point Pinole hosted several different kinds of industry and a vast diversity of workers including Mexican cattle ranchers and Eastern European fisherman, back to the Huchiun Ohlone, the land’s rightful stewards, collecting shellfish from the rocky shore.

The eucalyptus trees at Point Pinole were originally planted to dampen the sound and potential impact of explosions.

Now, Point Pinole hosts miles of flat and accessible hiking trails for anyone who wants to take in scenic bay views and quiet meadows–a far cry from its busy past. Before heading out, be sure to pack a pair of binoculars to spot some of the dozens of bird species that make their homes in the marshes and eucalyptus trees.

The People’s Plaza: Sixty-Two Days of Nonviolent Resistance by Justin Jones

Toxic Communities; Environmental Racism, Industiral Pollution, and Residential Mobility by Dorceta E. Taylor

The Power of Play: Learning What Comes Naturally by David Elkind