Summer 2026
GRADUATION
Below are some reflections from our Fellows and graduated Bridgers about their time in the Fellowship. We want to wish a hearty congratulations to all of our graduated Seniors, it has been a pleasure knowing each and every one of you, and we cannot wait to see all that you accomplish in the years to come!
A Room Full of Strangers to a Community
By Anna Lau and Afrin Hussain
This past year, I’ve had the privilege of being part of the YouthBridge NY fellowship, and I’m incredibly grateful for everything this experience has taught me.
When I first joined YouthBridge, I remember walking into the room feeling completely out of place. I was nervous meeting students from all across New York City, each with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.
What started as a room full of strangers gradually became a community. Through our discussions, workshops, and conversations, I learned that some of the most valuable growth happens when you're surrounded by people whose experiences are different from your own. Every meeting challenged me to think more critically, listen more carefully, and consider perspectives I may never have encountered otherwise.
Through our discussions at YouthBridge, I developed a deeper understanding of systemic inequality and the ways socioeconomic barriers can shape people's opportunities and experiences. While learning about these issues was valuable, hearing directly from people who had lived through them made those conversations especially impactful and reminded me of the importance of looking beyond my own perspective. Those experiences also taught me that we all have a responsibility to uplift those around us: whether that's by listening to someone's story, creating space for different voices to be heard, or working toward positive change in our communities.
Those experiences taught me that positive change begins with people listening to one another, supporting one another, and building genuine connections. And while the conversations we had were incredibly impactful, some of my favorite memories came from the friendships and experiences that grew out of them.
One of the first memories that comes to mind is our retreat at the beginning of the year. We all arrived not knowing one another, but through activities, conversations, and plenty of laughter, we quickly became comfortable with each other. Looking back, it set the tone for everything that followed.
Throughout the year, YouthBridge became much more than twice-monthly meetings. It became a place where we could challenge ideas respectfully, learn from one another, and build genuine friendships. Some of the most memorable moments weren't planned at all. They were the conversations before meetings started, the discussions that continued after they ended, and the connections we built along the way.
As those relationships grew, so did my confidence. One lesson I've learned this year is that confidence isn't about never being nervous. It's about speaking anyway. Through presentations, discussions, and conversations with guest speakers, I became more comfortable trusting my own voice and contributing my ideas.
I also learned that leadership doesn't always mean standing at the front of the room. Sometimes leadership means taking the initiative to introduce yourself to someone new, helping others feel included, or creating space for different voices to be heard. Those are lessons I'll carry with me long after this fellowship ends.
The opportunities we had to connect with professionals and community leaders also showed me the value of building relationships. Many of those conversations extended beyond a single meeting and demonstrated how meaningful one connection can become.
And I think that's one of the biggest lessons YouthBridge leaves us with: the importance of connection.
Whether it was learning from guest speakers, collaborating with our groups, or simply listening to one another's stories, this fellowship showed us how much we can gain when we're willing to engage with people whose experiences differ from our own.
YouthBridge challenged us to think critically about our communities, but it also reminded us that creating change begins with listening, understanding, and supporting one another.
As we look ahead to next year as Bridgers, we're excited to continue those conversations, strengthen the relationships we've built, and help welcome the next group of Fellows into this community.
When we first joined YouthBridge, we hoped to learn something new and meet new people. What we didn't expect was how much this program would come to mean to us.
To the YouthBridge staff, facilitators, guest speakers, Fellows, and Bridgers: thank you for making this year so memorable. We are incredibly grateful for everything we've learned and for the community we've found here.
Thank you.
The Importance of Helping Others
By Ethan Forbes, Ryan Lo, and Ahnaf Sarwar
During our time in YouthBridge we have made many memories and many friends. When I came into this experience I was thinking to myself “am I really about to go on an overnight retreat and sleep with a bunch of people I don’t know?” But as we learned, played ‘get to know you’ games, and saw all the items people brought in that meant something to them, through all those moments I started to see and understand everyone’s character and knew I was with a good group of people.
Being part of the healthcare disparities committee has taught me a lot. We have had many people from organizations across New York discuss real issues affecting people in New York, and how this generation needs to be the people who will step up and make a difference. These meetings made me more aware of the problems that affect people everyday and showed me the importance of helping others and listening to different perspectives.
For example, we had a session on mental health where we talked about the struggles people go through and how some people don’t have the support they need. It made me realize how important it is to check in on people, especially the ones closest to you.
From that moment on, YouthBridge became more than just a program to me; it became an experience full of memories, lessons and people I’m grateful to have met. I will carry on what I learned and the friendships I have made with me moving forward.
Building on what Ethan shared about the mental health session, one of our favorite moments was when we acted as students hosting a mental health podcast. We had microphones, videos, and cards with specific scenarios to give advice. As I was watching the second group carry out their scenario, I couldn’t help but laugh and smile; I could barely hold the camera steady.
Ethan was being Ethan while still showing his care, and that applies to everyone at YouthBridge. They listen, care, and support with their own experiences all while still enjoying themselves. Our conversations are not only filled with thought, but laughter and humanity. The way in which we learned was through conversations, disagreements, and understanding. We get to learn while enjoying the process. Those moments were a reminder that learning about these topics doesn’t always have to be heavy when you're with a room full of people who care about the same things you care about. We’re thankful to the community that's been built and the friends and peers I’ve gained in learning more about healthcare accessibility.
From our talks on health disparities, mental health, and identity, we learned that you can never reduce a person to data, that a lot of people who experience disparities are at the intersection of race, gender, economic background, and their own uniqueness.
It was great when we all came together, laughed, and talked on topics that we actually cared about. It really hit when we were selecting a grant winner. We debated for a while, even past our 7:00 session end time, to try and find a unanimous winner. Several of us saw different ideas and reasons for different groups to win, but we all thoughtfully listened to each other all in an effort to find a cause worth supporting. In the end, we chose The National Alliance on Mental Illness, an organization that reflects our values as a committee as well.
As we continue thinking about being the next generation of change, we look forward to continuing to learn more in our future skill building workshops and applying it to how we act in everyday life.
Hungry for a Change
By Madysonrae Caban
It is an honor to be here tonight to celebrate these young adults and the incredible criminal justice reform here at YouthBridge. Change does not happen overnight, but it does start here. It starts with us. With the education and resources YouthBridge has provided us to learn about our current criminal justice system, these teenagers here today are taking the steps to make a huge difference in our system.
My experience with YouthBridge has been nothing but exceptional. To learning and hearing from amazing guest speakers, to having amazing intellectual conversations with my fellow peers in the criminal justice reform, I can say that I have truly grown and learned more than I ever thought I would from first hearing about YouthBridge.
Criminal Justice has a big presence in a city like New York, and many don’t realize how surface-level their knowledge is on it, myself included, before joining this committee. Criminal Justice is something that I have grown to be passionate about over the years, getting to learn about the corruption in our systems, like Rikers Island, to learning about some incredible organizations trying to make a difference, like NYC Books Through Bars, has truly been enlightening.
I'm sure I am not the only one when I say that this committee has educated me tremendously, but has also grown my compassion for people, strengthened my communication skills, and made me hungry for change.
The work done here at Youthbridge is something that should be showcased throughout the city, and I can only hope that this program can reach so many other kids, just like it did my peers and me. Thank you to Adama and Tiffany for giving so many teens across New York the opportunity to be a part of something so important.
Thank you, everyone, for being here today to celebrate this amazing program and committee!
One Person’s Choice Can Change Everything
By Benjamin Danilov
Thank you all for being here tonight.
Before I start, I want to thank Tiffany, Adama, and the whole YouthBridge-NY staff for everything they have done for us over the past two years. I also want to thank the Bridgers in this room, because so much of what made this experience meaningful was not just the program itself, but the people I got to go through with.
When I first joined YouthBridge, I knew it was about leadership and diversity, but I do not think I fully understood what that meant yet. I came in with my own background, my own community, and my own way of seeing the world. I thought leadership mostly meant speaking up and having something important to say. Over time, I learned that leadership also means knowing when to listen, when to question yourself, and when to stay open even when a conversation is uncomfortable.
One thing I kept coming back to during this fellowship was my own family’s story.
My family comes from the Mountain Jewish community in the Caucasus, in a city called Nalchik. During World War II, when the Nazis occupied the city, my great-grandmother was hiding with her daughter, my grandmother, who was only two years old at the time. Eventually, they were found and placed with other Jewish people who were being marched away.
Then, at that moment, a Muslim man who knew my great-grandmother stepped forward. Even though he worked for the Nazis, he pulled her out of the line and hid her and my grandmother in his home for a month, until the soldiers left.
I am standing here tonight because of what he did.
I have thought about that story a lot, especially during my time in YouthBridge. That man did not help my family because they shared the same religion or the same exact background. He helped because he knew them as people. They had lived near each other. They had shared the same city. There was enough human connection there that, even in a terrible moment, he could not look away.
That is one of the biggest lessons I am taking from YouthBridge. It is easy to talk about bringing people together, but it is much harder to actually sit with people who come from different communities and really try to understand them.
Over the past two years, I heard perspectives that were not the same as mine. I listened to people talk about experiences I never lived through. I started to understand that people’s views do not come from nowhere. They come from their families, their neighborhoods, their struggles, and the way the world has treated them.
That changed the way I think.
This fellowship pushed me to care about what other communities are carrying too. It made me realize that being a leader cannot just mean protecting the people who already feel familiar to you. It has to mean paying attention to people whose experiences are different from yours, because if you only see the world through your own lens, you are going to miss a lot.
Some of my favorite moments were not the biggest events or the most formal parts of the program. They were the smaller conversations, when someone would say something about their life or their community, and I would realize I had never really thought about it that way before. Those moments stayed with me because they made the world feel bigger than my own experience.
YouthBridge also gave me practice. Practice listening without just waiting for my turn to talk. Practice speaking honestly without trying to win every conversation. Practice being in a room where not everyone agrees, and still finding a way to move forward. I think that is a skill we need more than ever, because it feels like the world keeps making it easier for people to separate themselves from anyone who thinks differently.
Now that the fellowship is ending, I feel grateful, but I also feel responsible. YouthBridge was not just something we attended for two years. It was preparing us for the moments when we have to decide what kind of people we are going to be outside of this room.
My family’s story taught me that one person’s choice can change everything. YouthBridge helped me understand that those choices do not happen randomly. They come from the way we train ourselves to see other people before the moment gets hard.
So what comes next for me is taking that lesson with me into my school, my community, and whatever leadership roles I have in the future. I want to be someone who does not just talk about bridging communities, but actually tries to do it.
Thank you again to the YouthBridge staff, my fellow Bridgers, and everyone here tonight. I am very grateful for these two years, and I know I will carry this experience with me for a long time.