Youth Empowerment

Youth Empowerment is a frontline grassroots community organization that has risen from humble beginnings. The City Heights neighborhood, San Diegos most diverse community with the highest rates of poverty and interpersonal violence, raised Youth Empowerments founders, husband and wife Arthur and Gaby Soriano, and their life-long friend Robert Ontiveros. In 2015, following 24 years of incarceration, Arthur returned with a newfound vision and conviction to heal and transform. With this in mind, Arthur started connecting with other former gang members he knew who were also looking to change their ways. The couple and Mr. Ontiveros began holding weekly barbecues at Teralta Park and established a sense of family and credibility that helped the youth see a life beyond the confines of their neighborhood. These grassroots beginnings would build the model that would eventually become Youth Empowerment. Since then, Youth Empowerment has been a thriving grassroots organization with programs th...