WE ARE UMOJA HEALTH YOUTH MOBILIZERS
ENGAGING YOUTH AROUND PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES THAT HELP MOVE US INTO DIVERSIFIED HEALTHCARE CAREER PATHS.
Air Quality
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Sexual Health
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Mental Health
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Public Health
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Substance Abuse
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Cancer
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Air Quality 〰️ Sexual Health 〰️ Mental Health 〰️ Public Health 〰️ Substance Abuse 〰️ Cancer 〰️
Who We Are
We are the Umoja Health Youth Mobilizers a group of youth mobilizing our communities to improve health outcomes. We do in person outreach and health education in Alameda County. We host educational forums and create digital education content!
Youth Mobilizers have evolved to address some of the most pressing issues facing our communities, expanding our focus to include COVID-19 response, mental health advocacy, air quality awareness, and more.
Why We Focus on Air Quality
COVID is airborne and Youth Mobilizers are measuring ventilation in our community spaces because it can give us clues about how clean the air is, and what are the chances of becoming infected with Covid. CO2 is expelled into the air and in enclosed spaces every time a person exhales.
If someone is infected with COVID, each breath also expels some virus into that same space. The more people present in the space, and the more the enclosed the space is, the higher the CO2 levels will be. Wearing masks reduces the CO2 (and virus in the air). Opening doors and windows also reduces CO2 and the amount of virus in the air.
In public spaces with good ventilation, the CO2 is low and so is the risk of COVID transmission. When the CO2 is high, it means that the risk is also high because we are re-breathing other people’s air. If that “re-breathed” air includes viral particles and aerosoles, the chances of getting COVID increases significantly.
REMEMBER, COVID IS AIRBORNE! Protect yourself by being aware of and in your surroundings!
AIR QUALITY & COVID RISK
Technology can help us detect virus risk in public places, and our Youth Mobilizer team has been monitoring local establishments in our community. Watch the video and listen to Dr. Lucky Tran explain how to use CO2 monitors to gauge COVID risk.
Then, look at the map and images below to learn how we’ve monitored some of our community’s local businesses to monitor the air quality inside their establishments.
Why We Focus on Sexual Health
In response to the rise of STIs in the Bay Area and the lack of awareness in the county that we noticed, we began focusing on expanding STI knowledge among young adults. Our efforts included sharing sexual health resources through tabling events and distributing goodie bags containing condoms, dental dams, and educational STI pushcards.
To gain a gist of people's knowledge on the rising issue, we decided on creating an STI survey and surveyed the community in the unincorporated areas of Alameda County. After surveying the community, we created a poster highlighting our findings, which we presented at the Alameda County Public Health Department (ACPHD) all staff conference during September of 2024 in front of the ACPHD director.
We also organized STI forums at OUSD high schools, which include; Castlemont High School and McClymonds high school with hopes of expanding our forums to other high schools. Beyond in-person outreach, we also spread awareness through digital content on our social media pages which include STI infographics, STI poll questions, and additional sexual health resources in efforts to make information more accessible.
Take a look at the images below to view some of the sexual health content we’ve created.
For more content, check out our instagram!
Join our team!
If you are interested in applying to the Umoja Health Oakland Youth Mobilizer Program, you will need to complete and submit an application. Once your application has been reviewed and accepted, you will receive an acceptance notification along with a follow-up email containing important information about the program. Following that, you will be scheduled for an onboarding meeting with the Program Co-Leads to further acquaint you with the program and its expectations.
WHY BECOME AN UMOJA HeaLTH YOUTH MOBILIZER?
PARTICIPATE
You can participate in the planning and delivery of community activities.
EARN TO LEARN
You can earn money while you learn how to engage within the community!
DIVERSIFY
Being a part of the team can increase diversity in health care jobs.
