CommUnify’s Youth Summit

The South Coast Youth Safety Partnership (SCYSP) invites the public to attend a free community discussion about youth violence in Southern Santa Barbara County from Carpinteria to Goleta. This very special event will be at the Faulkner Gallery in the Santa Barbara Public Library at 40 E Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara on Thursday, May 20, 2026 ~ 4:00 – 6:00pm.

This year, the Youth Summit will “flip the script” with twenty young people leading the break-out discussion sessions with members of the partnership in the areas of mental health, education, law enforcement, the faith community, and nonprofit organizations. These local students will be asking probing questions of SCYSP members which are informed by the Positive Youth Development (PYD) program which the youth have trained in through workshops which provide them the tools to gain self-confidence and create pathways to success. They will be putting this training to good use during this unique event which is directed by the young people themselves.

The genesis of the SCYSP was the tragic incident of youth violence which occurred in 2007 when a 14-year-old fatally stabbed a 15-year-old in downtown Santa Barbara. The Partnership was formed with a shared commitment to honor the memory of the victim and sparked this ongoing, multi-organization effort to build a safer, more collaborative effort to address youth violence on the South Coast. The goal of SCYSP is to deepen the understanding of the complex social, environmental, and systemic factors contributing to gang involvement and to explore how to create more effective, compassionate, and coordinated responses using the Positive Youth Development framework.