Welcome to Adelante Youth Alliance, where we support students, families, and communities in their journey toward growth and success. "Adelante" means to move forward, make progress, and thrive. Our mission is to inspire and educate youth through our core pillars - Education, Career, and Wellness. By providing essential resources, and a supportive community, we help students navigate their academic paths, explore meaningful careers, and cultivate lifelong well-being. Our vision is to be a high-impact network for historically marginalized youth, fostering spaces where they can grow, connect, and lead. Through workshops, mentoring, access to opportunities with holistic support, we equip people with tools to shape their futures.

Join us in building a future where every person has the support to move forward.

¡Adelante!

350+

volunteers

Professional and community volunteers donate their time and expertise to support our programs and students. Mentors create and promote a college-going culture and model of excellence.

3,200+

annual conference participants

Through our Adelante Mujer Latina & Adelante Young Men Conferences, youth discover a roadmap to a successful future, as they learn firsthand about a variety of professions and how to attain a career in them. With this focus on education, the conferences encourage students to strive for higher learning – getting into and graduating from college.

AYA has been instrumental in providing thousands of youth with the support, resources and role models needed to believe in their own abilities and achieve their full potential to become productive members of their communities – willing and able to give back.

In response to a dramatic increase in local youth violence and low high school completion rates in 1995, Pasadena Youth Center (PYC) was conceived. Established in 2001 as a 501 c(3) community-based non-profit organization. Our goals are to help youth succeed, with programs designed to enhance academic, social and professional competence, while learning valuable life and job skills.

In 2014, Pasadena Youth Center’s name was changed to Adelante Youth Alliance (AYA) to better reflect our vision and how we achieve that vision – advancing youth together - with our allies, sponsors and volunteers.

Who We Serve

Our programs serve youth, ages 13-24. Over 85% of our student participants qualify for free or reduced lunch and 91% of our students attend Title 1 schools.