What is the BYFY Conference?


Eight years ago, the members of the By Youth For Youth program decided to organize a local conference that consisted of workshops lead by the youth themselves. The purose was to address issues that youth were facing in their communities. They found themselves relating to youth from other communities and realized how important it was to give and receive support from their peers.

In the summer of 2000, in an effort to expose the BYFY group to a diverse gathering of their peers, the youth decided to build on their local conferences and host a national conference that would allow the youth to network with other youth throughout the nation. One of BYFY members, Ricky Diaz, was assigned to coordinate the logistical aspects for the national conference including the recruitment of presenters and participants by the summer of 2001. Meanwhile, other members of the group met every other week as part of a training program that would enable them to lay the foundation of the network as well as to facilitated the conference. These individuals, with the support of the Mar Vista Family Center, organized and hosted the first National By Youth For Youth Conference held at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Since then, five successful National Conferences have been hosted by the Mar Vista Family Center and By Youth For Youth.