Who We Are
The San Fernando Youth Organization (SFYO) is a community-based nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering youth, young adults, and families throughout the San Fernando Valley and surrounding communities. Rooted in lived experience, mentorship, and community connection, SFYO was created to provide meaningful support, guidance, and opportunities to individuals who may feel underserved, disconnected, or overlooked.
Our organization focuses on creating pathways toward long-term success through Personalized Mentorship, Educational Support, Workforce Development, Life-Skills Training, Leadership Development, and Community Engagement. We believe every young person deserves access to positive role models, safe support systems, and opportunities that help them build confidence, purpose, and stability for their future.
SFYO proudly serves youth and families across the entire San Fernando Valley and neighboring cities through a mobile, community-centered service model. While our headquarters office provides administrative and organizational support, many of our services are delivered directly in the community. Our mentors and support staff meet youth where they are — including schools, homes, community spaces, courts, workplaces, and other safe public environments — ensuring services remain accessible, personalized, and relationship-driven.
At SFYO, we understand that true impact comes from meeting young people with compassion, consistency, and real support. Our team is committed to helping youth overcome barriers, discover their strengths, pursue education and career goals, develop leadership skills, and build healthy connections within their communities.
Through collaboration, advocacy, and mentorship, SFYO continues working toward a stronger and more empowered San Fernando Valley where every young person has the opportunity to succeed, feel valued, and reach their full potential.
Our Team
Youth Mentors
At San Fernando Youth Organization (SFYO), we believe the impact of our work begins with the people who serve our youth and families.
Our leadership team and Board of Directors are made up of educators, mentors, advocates, and professionals with backgrounds in youth development, education, workforce development, community engagement, and family support. Together, they bring both professional expertise and a deep understanding of the communities we serve.
What makes SFYO unique is our intentional commitment to building a team that leads with both knowledge and lived experience.
Many of the professionals and mentors we work with have overcome personal hardships, navigated difficult environments, and made the decision to pursue growth, education, and positive change in their own lives. They returned to school, built careers, and committed themselves to becoming examples of resilience, accountability, and leadership within their communities.
For us, that lived experience matters.
We believe young people connect most deeply with individuals who not only understand the work professionally, but who can genuinely relate to the challenges, pressures, and realities many youth face every day. Our mentors and professionals are committed to showing youth that growth is possible, second chances matter, and their future does not have to be defined by their circumstances.
At SFYO, mentorship is more than a position—it is leadership, responsibility, and the willingness to guide young people with compassion, consistency, and purpose.
Because while skills can be taught, heart, passion, and genuine care for others cannot.
Meet Our Founder
&
Executive Director
Elizabeth Maya
Behind San Fernando Youth Organization is a leader whose passion was not built in a boardroom — it was shaped through lived experience, personal loss, resilience, and a lifelong commitment to helping young people feel seen, supported, and valued.
Together, she and her husband opened their home and hearts to two teenage youth in the foster care system, an experience that profoundly changed their lives and deepened their understanding of the realities many young people face. Through that journey, they witnessed firsthand the emotional, educational, and systemic challenges youth often navigate while searching for stability, belonging, guidance, and genuine support. More importantly, they saw the incredible strength, resilience, and untapped potential that exists within young people when someone simply believes in them and refuses to give up on them.
At the same time, experiencing the heartbreaking loss of her brothers to substance abuse at a young age shaped a deeper personal mission — a mission rooted in preventing youth from having to face pain, trauma, hardship, and life’s most difficult moments alone or without support.
Those life experiences became the foundation of SFYO.
Through years of mentorship, advocacy, and community work, she came to understand that many young people are not looking for perfection — they are looking for someone who listens, someone who shows up, someone who cares, and someone who reminds them that their story does not end with their struggles.
SFYO was built from that belief: that one caring adult, one opportunity, and one safe support system can completely change the direction of a young person’s life.
How We Support Every Youth
Our Impact Model shows how we walk alongside young people—from the moment they share their struggles to the point where they are stable, confident, and ready for their future.
01
Connection
Building trust through consistent presence and authentic community relationships.
02
Assessment
Identifying personal needs and challenges to create a tailored support roadmap.
03
Goal Setting
Defining three personal goals that become the foundation for the journey.
04
Mentorship
One-on-one guidance to walk alongside youth through growth and challenges.
05
Independence
Achieving stability and self-sufficiency through developed expertise and skills.
01
Mentorship
Guiding the Future. One-on-one guidance from experienced community leaders.
Our Strategic Program Areas
02
Education
Knowledge Empowers. Resources and tutoring to ensure youth excel academically.
Programs
03
Community
Connecting Hearts. Fostering belonging through local projects and volunteer work.
04
Carrer Prep
Building Careers. Practical tools and expertise needed for workforce success.
Our Vision
At San Fernando Youth Organization (SFYO), our vision is to create lasting impact throughout the San Fernando Valley and surrounding communities by building opportunities, support systems, and programs that empower youth, strengthen families, and inspire community growth.
We believe every young person deserves access to safe spaces, educational opportunities, workforce development, wellness resources, leadership opportunities, and positive community connections regardless of the challenges or barriers they may face. Our goal is to help create healthier, stronger, and more connected communities where youth feel valued, supported, and inspired to reach their full potential.
As a growing nonprofit organization, SFYO understands the responsibility that comes with community trust and funding. While we are in the early stages of organizational growth, our leadership, board members, and team bring years of real-life experience, professional expertise, community involvement, and direct work with youth and families. Our foundation is built not only on passion, but also on lived experience, resilience, and a genuine commitment to delivering high-quality, impactful, and community-centered services.
SFYO is committed to responsibly utilizing all funding opportunities available to a 501(c)(3) organization to expand programs, create sustainable opportunities, and increase community impact. Every investment made into our organization directly contributes to building resources, programs, educational opportunities, wellness initiatives, community events, workforce development opportunities, and supportive environments for the youth and families we serve.
Our Board of Directors consists of professionals, educators, mentors, advocates, and community leaders who are deeply connected to the communities we serve and remain committed to helping create meaningful and lasting change. In addition, SFYO is actively developing a Youth Advisory Board made up of justice-impacted and community youth who understand firsthand the realities many young people face today. This youth leadership initiative is intended to provide young people with a voice, leadership opportunities, and a platform to help shape programs and community solutions while supporting youth who are actively working toward growth, healing, and reinventing themselves.
Our vision is not simply to operate programs — it is to build a movement of healing, opportunity, empowerment, and community transformation led by people who truly understand the importance of investing in the next generation.
Stay informed about our programs, success stories, and impact on our youth.
Our Mission
The San Fernando Youth Organization empowers underserved youth and young adults to break barriers, discover their potential, and build brighter futures through mentorship, education, workforce development, financial literacy, mental health support, and community engagement. We believe every young person deserves hope, opportunity, and the tools to thrive. Together, we inspire resilience, leadership, independence, and lasting positive change.