About Us

Our Mission

Save Our Youth (SOY) is a local non-profit that has served over 12,000 low-income, at-risk youth from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District since 1993, providing over $4 million in scholarships to first generation youth.

SOY’s mission is to provide a safe and welcoming space for teens to find hope, to nourish a sense of self and an ability to grow, and to develop interests and skills to become productive members of society.

Achieving the Mission

In Spanish, SOY means “I am.” Our success in achieving our mission is shown through the many ways our former students now proudly complete their “I am” SOY sentences:

SOY aims to:

  • encourage the pursuit of higher education
  • lower the drop-out rate
  • prevent gang participation
  • level the playing field
  • raise self-esteem
  • promote overall well-being
  • develop life skills
  • help students find their passion
  • build a sense of community

We achieve this through mentoring, tutoring, college preparedness, access to field trips, sports, fitness, and lessons in art, dance, and music and much more.

SOY’s life-changing programming, provided free of charge to our students, could not exist without our generous donors, volunteers, and essential collaborations with other local non-profit, governmental, and private entities.

These 4 students have been at SOY since 7th grade. Now they are all at UCs with large SOY scholarships. Jose and Enrique are attending UCSD and UCI. Aleyda and Wendy are attending UCSD and UCM.

History

Our History

SOY was founded in the early 1990s with the help of community members and a group of Westside Costa Mesa parents called “Madres de Costa Mesa” who believed their teens needed an alternative to gangs and the temptation of the streets. In this low-income neighborhood of Orange County, most parents are immigrants with little formal education, limited English skills, and no knowledge of the American college system. What they share is a recognition of the value of education to secure a brighter future for their children.

SOY’s Timeline

1993
SOY Center Opens

After Costa Mesa’s first drive-by shooting in 1992, the parents met with the city manager and other city staff to discuss creating a safe haven for their children. With City Councilman Joe Erickson and Mayor Mary Hornbuckle leading the way, space was secured at Rea Center, (when the school was closed), but it was up to the parents to develop the program. Initially run under the umbrella of Share Our Selves (SOS), SOY became incorporated in 1993. Jean Forbath, founder of SOS, and Nora Maher were among SOY’s founders along with the parents. With their site secured, the parents and community supporters accumulated donated furniture, computers, pool tables, weights and exercise machines, even mirrors and padded gym flooring as well as a boxing ring to attract area youth.

1995
SOY Soccer and Fitness Classes Begin

SOY started to offer structured sports with volunteer coaches for soccer and basketball for youth that couldn’t afford to play on a club or organized team, and fitness classes in the weight and dance room. We had uniforms donated through sponsors. Today we offer a variety of fitness classes including spin, yoga, Pilates, and boot camp, as well as a weekly bike club, monthly hiking and summer activities.

1997
Scholarship Program Launched

The greatest early lift to SOY was a generous donor who established an innovative scholarship program and contributed to it for more than 14 years. The program paid students for good grades and awarded them a grant upon graduating equal to the amount of money they earned during their years at SOY. Over $2 million was allocated to hundreds of SOY graduates who went on to colleges all over California. This laid the groundwork for today’s robust scholarship program, providing a $1500 to a $5500 scholarship for every college-bound SOY senior each year.

2000
Soy Girls & Dance Program Starts

The SOY Girls Program was established to offer a safe space for young women to find themselves, grapple with women’s health and wellness issues, relationships, and goal setting. A dance program was added to provide classes in hip hop, ballet, jazz, modern and ballet folklorico. The girls performed at the OC Fair and many other venues providing them with self-confidence and new skills.

2005
Music and Arts Program Starts

SOY received a feeder grant to start a music program. Instruments and equipment were purchased, and an instructor hired. Under this program, SOY offers free music lessons in voice, piano, drums, guitar, music production and DJ. SOY also offers art lessons, mural painting, exhibitions and an annual talent show.

2007
SOY Administers first Myers Scholarship

The Isidore & Penny Myers Scholarship, for a NMUSD student who is an immigrant or child of immigrant and will be attending a 4-year university, was added to our scholarship program with the recipient given $10,000 per year. This is currently a $50,000 scholarship and helped encourage other donors to also give money towards scholarships.

2010
SOY Hiking, Field Trips and Summer Camps

SOY started offering monthly hiking trips through our partnership with OC hiking club, field trips to museums and Summer Camps for SOY youth. Through our partnership with the YMCA and other groups, like OCC and Volcom, we are able to provide numerous activities for students to enjoy the outdoors.

2016
SOY Expands to New Center

After 23 years at the old center, SOY moved to its current location in the Newport Mesa School District’s BESST Center, where students benefit from an academic room, a “hangout” room, a music room, a leadership room and a dance/fitness studio, in addition to basketball courts, a soccer pitch and soccer fields, and so much more. Most importantly, SOY is exactly that safe haven the founders envisioned: a welcoming place for students to go after school to learn new skills, advance their education, or simply hang out amongst friends.

2019
SOY Chosen as Nonprofit of the Year

SOY was chosen as the Nonprofit of the Year for CA Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris’ District. Executive Director Mary Cappellini went to the State Capitol to accept the award on behalf of the Board and the staff at SOY.

2020
SOY Provides All Types of Community Services

During the Pandemic SOY was one of the only youth centered nonprofits that still provided after school activities and a place for youth to go after school. They started a bike club, provided outside spin and soccer to allow students to exercise and go outside of their crowded apartments. They provided outside study area with internet. SOY also held food distribution days and vaccination clinics, and they gave college students grants to help them continue their course work while at home and far from college resources.

2023
30th Year Anniversary

From that humble beginning 30 years ago, SOY is now a full-service youth center, with a wide array of academic and enrichment programs serving some 400 teens each year from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. SOY draws students from the three middle schools and five high schools that serve students in Costa Mesa. SOY also provides 100% of its graduating seniors in the college-bound program a scholarship to college all funded by donors. Generous donors also sponsor several prestigious and highly selective scholarships exclusively for SOY students, (besides the Isidore & Penny Myers Memorial Scholarship for all NMUSD students), including the Lamb Family Foundation Scholarship ($40,000) and two Jean Forbath Scholarships ($5,000 each).

See the scholarship page for more information and to get involved.

Watch SOY’s Video: Celebrating 30 Years of SOY

Collaborations

Collaborations and partnerships are an important part of our work. By collaborating with other nonprofits and organizations and even businesses we can build a community which supports and empowers our youth.

SOY Board of Directors

Nancy Fries—Chair of the Board

Writing Consultant; SOY Volunteer

Julie Duddridge—Secretary

Teacher, NMUSD; SOY parent & Volunteer

Michael Valdez—Treasurer

Attorney, Woodruff, Spradlin & Smart

Cesar Cappellini

Experienced CEO, Business Consultant

Gerry Demarsico

Retired aerospace Engineer; SOY tutor

Adriana Suarez

Attorney, Skikos, Crawford and Skikos

Bobby Lovell, PhD

Retired Clinical Psychologist

Carol Crane

President, NMUSD Board of Education

Juan Miguel—SOY Alum

Civil Engineer, ESIFME

Bob Sterling

Estancia High School Avid Teacher, NMUSD

Wendy Maddocks

Real Estate Agent; Community Volunteer

Liz Parker

Board Member, CCC District

Board Member Emeritus
Jean Forbath

One of the Founders of SOY; Founder, Retired Executive Director, Share Our Selves

Mary Cappellini

SOY Executive Director

Working volunteer board photos:

SOY Staff

Mary Cappellini

SOY Executive Director mary@save-our-youth.org

Manuel Chavez, SOY Alum

Outreach & Program Manager
manuel@save-our-youth.org

Reyna Verduzco

College-Bound Counselor Reyna@save-our-youth.org

Emma Aceves

Student Success Coordinator emma@save-our-youth.org

Paxton Onstott

Music Assistant
angel@save-our-youth.org

Staff with SOY College Corps Fellows

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