Peer Mentors

Are you interested in leading and mentoring your peers to help create change within our Sacramento community? Peer mentors will help facilitate Davitto Leadership Academy sessions, lead small group discussions, and serve as a mentor to academy participants. All peer mentors will receive training and support for this compensated position. View our calendar for more information on future dates.

Who We Are

The Davitto Leadership Academy is a certificated youth mentoring and leadership program for ages 16-24, with an interest in social justice or political advocacy and who want to make a difference in the Sacramento community.

Participants attend training sessions to learn leadership skills and how to put those skills into action. They develop a plan to address a school or community issue that they are passionate about changing and are matched with an adult mentor who will coach them as they develop and execute their plans.

Through this experience, participants develop cross-cultural, cross-generational relationships with their peers, peer mentors, and adult mentors, giving participants skills to be effective youth advocates now and contributors in their future workplaces.

What We Do

 The DLA is designed to help youth gain cross-cultural, cross-generational leadership skills and execute a plan to improve their school or community.

 Participants learn and use advocacy skills to influence decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions. To do this, participants select an area to focus their advocacy efforts. Participants in our fall 2018 cohort can select either social justice or political advocacy as their focus.

 3 certificate levels:
•Level 1: Develop your personal brand and self-identity:
Who are you and what do your stand for? What are your values and passions and how do you drive results as a leader?
•Level 2: Create and present a plan to address a community issue:
How do you create a plan to make real change? How do you engage in cross-cultural and cross-generational conversations to move your plan forward?
•Level 3: Execute your plan and overcome barriers:
How do you navigate challenges, people, and systems that negatively impact your plan? How do you inspire others to collectively work towards change?

Why DLA?

 Youth participants gain:
•Transferable skills that they learn to highlight on their resume and in interviews
•Opportunities to apply their learned skills to better their circumstances and community with feedback from their peers, mentors, and community members
•Mentorship from an adult ally that has experience in a focus area of interest
•Empowerment and hope