COMMUNITY
Youth Community Service (YCS) new Executive Director
Y
outh Community Service (YCS) has a new Executive Director, the fourth in its thirty-year history. Mora Oommen is replacing Leif Ericson who left the organization after serving for 16 years as Executive Director. Leif is joining the YCS Board of Directors. Mora Oommen grew up in the United States and India and is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and University of London’s Institute of Education. She resides in Palo Alto with her husband and daughter. She previously served as the Executive Director of Blossom Birth and Family in Palo Alto; she is a founding member of the Doula Volunteer Program of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose. Before joining Blossom Birth and Family in 2008, she worked at educational non-profits focused on public health, education, and women’s empowerment in the Mor Oommen
Leif Erickson
Caribbean, India, countries in southern Africa and the United States. A writer, she is the author and co-author of several articles and publications on health, gender equality and education. “YCS’ unique calling is to inspire youth to be leaders and to bridge the existing societal gaps through community service,” she was quoted as saying in a letter to the community. “As we face both a global health pandemic and a national reckoning of structural racial injustices, youth will be leading the way in shaping and imagining the world anew,” she also noted. YCS was founded in 1990 as a partnership between the cities of Palo Alto and East Palo Alto, the
Palo Alto Unified School District and the Ravenswood City School District. Its goal has been to increase cross-community awareness and collaboration through youth serving through service projects and service learning. In its three-decade history, YCS has engaged thousands of young people from East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Palo Alto in service-based learning. Youth have built leadership and life skills, gained empathy for others, and built a sense of connectedness, purpose and efficacy while ensuring a positive difference in the lives of others. Leif Erickson, served as ED of YCS for 16 years. JULY - AUGUST 2020 EL RAVENSWOOD 19
