Youth Leadership Pinellas is a series of interactive days designed to educate high school teens on community resources and issues, develop an excellence in leadership, build teamwork skills, and foster involvement in community services.

Youth Leadership Pinellas (YLP) began in 1998 to mirror the adult program. Knowing that high school students could benefit from a community educational experience like the principal Leadership Pinellas program made it a natural fit. And, for one teen the experience has come full circle … in 2014, we had our first YLP graduate come back and graduate from the Leadership Pinellas adult program.

Hundreds of Pinellas County students have graduated from the program, taking valuable life lessons to college, and then into the workplace.

YLP is a seven-month program operating from October through April. Students engage in six full-day sessions, plus an orientation retreat and graduation dinner. The program is run separately from any school-sponsored program. The Pinellas County School Board has approved this program as a school-related activity and therefore does not count this as an absence, but students are required to make up all work missed in class.

During each program day, the students have the opportunity to meet community decision makers and to engage them in frank, off-the-record discussions on current issues. By coming face to face with community leaders and proactive spokesmen in these various areas, graduates of YLP are better prepared to assume leadership roles of their own.