Internet- iPhone- iPad’s, Facebook- Twitter- …. you name it! It is amazing how much the media is shaping our worldview and that of the next generation. Today’s media is becoming increasingly violent and profane. Research has shown that contemporary teens are more desensitized to violence and sex than previous generations, which makes them more accepting…

I serve kids in Lincoln Heights – one of the oldest and most distinct Latino neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Some of the struggles common to the urban communities I serve include: poverty, single parent homes, gang violence, high crime rate, broken families and poor quality education due to budget cuts and overcrowding in schools. Most…

The WELL is UYWI’s free and practical online resource that provides urban youth leaders with 24/7 access to webinars, printed materials and downloadable trainings that maximize their personal growth and ministry. The WELL leverages the power of technology to offer cutting edge, reproducible training that engages leaders beyond the reach of our Conferences, Urban Youth…

Kyndal Tawzer a recent graduate of UYWI’s 90 Degrees Certification Program shares how some of the youth that she mentors deal with gender identity issues. She talks about a 9th grader boy who used to come to her youth group meetings dressed as a girl. 90 Degrees Certification Program has equipped her with the resources…

I have been serving low-income communities for 10 years. I oversee the Garnet community where we coach churches to live out the gospel in their communities. The youth in my neighborhood deal with fatherlessness, alcohol, poverty and local gangs. Solidarity empowers believers to be dynamic followers of Christ whose lifestyle marked by love will impact…

DID YOU KNOW THAT 2000 TEEN GIRLS GET PREGNANT EVERY DAY IN THE U.S.? Parenting at any age can be challenging, but it can be particularly difficult for teens. Compared with their peers who delay childbearing, teen girls who have babies are: Less likely to finish high school; More likely to be poor as adults;…

90 Degrees provided me with relevant training for my ministry. We had a 12 year old boy from a single-parent home that would skip school and cuss all the time. His mother was not around as much and he did not have a father figure. He’d see his siblings get picked up by their dads…

As an organization that continues to make every effort to resource urban leaders in their communities, we are acutely aware of the pain of poverty evidenced in kids’ lives and their families. We hear the cries from ministry leaders who do their best to seek training to sustain themselves and their programs amidst the social…

The 90 degrees Certification program has empowered me both personally and professionally to have greater kingdom impact and healthier personal practices. I am personally in a healthier state of spirit, soul, and body than I have ever been in. I attribute much of this new found peace to our Soul Care, Excellence in Ministry, and…

Hello UYWI Family, Thank you for your ongoing friendship with UYWI. As I reflected on family this past Easter, I came across an article on “Television & Family” that touched on the “typical” portrayal of a family on television and the noticeable shifts in racial diversity over the past decade. This depiction of family is…