2024-2025 Impact Report

Message from the Executive Director

On behalf of all of us at JCYC, it is my pleasure to be able to share with you our 2024-2025 Annual Impact Report. We are living in strange times, and our resolve as an organization has only grown stronger over the past year. Not only have we held strong to our values of compassion, community, cooperation, diversity, integrity, and vision, but we have been vocal in our commitment to the healthy development of all young people.

In 2025, the Trump administration announced not only its intention to defund TRIO, which has supported JCYC’s College Access Programs for over four decades, but also its desire to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. We quickly organized to push back, providing partners in the Midwest and South with tools to reach out to their members of Congress. A funding appropriate for TRIO was ultimately restored by Congress, but the Trump administration has made it clear that this will be a long, protracted fight to preserve services for low-income, first-generation college students.

Changes in early childhood education policies have created a fundamental shift for JCYC’s preschools. While the changes are clearly well-intentioned, JCYC has had to make major adjustments to our childcare operations with little time to plan and prepare. However, we are excited to launch expanded services for toddlers that will allow JCYC to respond to the new realities of childcare services and continue the highest level of care possible for working families.

We continue to take great pride in JCYC’s role as San Francisco’s primary provider of youth workforce services and employing over 3,000 young people each year. Our youth workforce programs are some of San Francisco’s longest-standing and most successful programs, which have developed critical workplace skills for thousands of San Francisco youth. Over the past year, we have reconnected with former participants who have earned PhDs, led philanthropy for corporations, and served in key roles for government agencies. These examples are a mere glimpse into the impact of these programs, and we are resolute in our determination to provide these opportunities for many years to come.

Finally, our legacy programs for the Japantown community continue to thrive and produce amazing young leaders. We are clear about our role in developing the next generation and look forward to their contributions to our community.

Though we will be facing difficult challenges in the years ahead, JCYC will always stand up for young people who need and deserve the very best from us and the rest of society. We will never stop believing and fighting to build a just society that prioritizes our children and youth.

Sincerely,

Jon Osaki

Executive Director