YouthHarbor, Inc is a newly forming non-profit founded by Sydney Ciota, a 14 year year old student at Saratoga Springs High School in Saratoga Springs, NY. We are on a mission to support the emotional well-being of today’s youth through the implementation of Wellness Rooms in schools, the creation of a Youth Wellness App and through sponsoring “Speak Your Truth” Open Mic Events (next event is at Caffe Lena on 12/7 at 11am)! YouthHarbor has a Tax ID Number and our 501 (c)3 status is pending with the IRS. Your contributions are tax deductible. As a teen who has endured significant anxiety and depression, I am committed to breaking the stigma of talking about mental health issues and providing safe spaces both inside and outside of schools for teens and tweens to help ease anxieties, decompress, support one another, empower one another and feel a stronger sense of self and peace as we navigate through our school days. The Wellness Rooms or YouthHarbor Rooms as we will call them, will be a safe space for teens in schools to go to access a variety of tools/resources (yoga mats, meditations, noise cancelling headphones, bean bag chairs, plants, soft lighting, aromatherapy, art supplies, journals, iPads...etc) to help ease anxieties/decompress before returning to our day. The YouthHarbor App will provide resources after school and on weekends and the “Speak Your Truth” Events provide a safe creative space for us teens to share poetry, music, artwork, monologues, etc in a supportive environment. Everyone has their own story and we hope to create an environment where people feel comfortable to share those, it’s a very difficult thing to do, but we hope to make that easier. We don’t want any kid to have to fight so hard and feel so alone, we want a safe space for kids to go, do what they they need to do and return to their days confident and emotionally healthy. We need the funds to continue the start up of this nonprofit as we appeal to local schools, create our app and continue our Youth Open Mic events at Caffe Lena! We need our community to help us raise funds and show support for our youth. The future of our community is in the hands of us, the youth of this community! Help us break the stigma around discussing mental health issues, let’s talk about social-emotional learning, let’s educate our educators, create safe spaces for our youth to grow, be heard, empower each other and find confidence and peace. Our nonprofit, YouthHarbor, Inc is a youth founded, youth run agency. We need the funds to continue our programs and turn our very well thought out vision/plan into true programs benefiting the youth in our community. Please donate to YouthHarbor, Inc.