South Asian Youth Action

About this listing

Development organization for South Asian youth

Place Details

Place Matters Profile

Nominations

South Asian Youth Action (SAYA!) is the nation's only secular children and youth development organization dedicated to South Asian youth. Since inception in 1996, SAYA! has brought comprehensive youth development, leadership, and after-school programs to nearly seven thousand youth across New York City, and an average of six hundred youth each academic year. This place runs a drop-in-center and after school space, where several children and youth from the same cultural background s are able to hang out together and talk about their experiences away from "home." Many children at the center call SAYA! their second home!

SAYA! is hosted in a rented building of a functional Presbyterian Church. This church provides classroom space, youth lounge space, office for staff and a whole level of an auditorium that can be converted into a gym or an indoor play field for children.

This place matters because South Asian children and youth growing up in American can connect and meet and hang out together to discuss issues about culture and change - - create a sense of community for them. (July 2011)