Community for Youth Launches the 2025-26 Program Year

Fall has officially arrived, and there’s a lot to celebrate - and we’re not just talking about cooler temperatures, glorious leaves, and layering! 

At Community for Youth, we spent the month of October getting to know the 75+ new and returning students and mentors joining us in our 2025-26 Learning Community, and we’re currently on track to make over 38 mentoring matches - a fitting start to what is, in many ways, a new chapter at CfY. 

In July, we made the move from our previous office in the Weller Building to the Pacific Tower. Yes, that glowing, orange, castle-like building overlooking the city from Beacon Hill. That’s the one! Our Mentor Orientations, Student Welcome Night, and Meet & Greet were all held in the beautiful Eighth Floor Panoramic Center - one floor above the CfY Office in Suite 710 - where all Community Workshops for the program year will be hosted. Needless to say, our students and mentors will be witnessing some stunning Puget Sound sunsets over the next seven months.

Following student and mentor onboarding, we all did what we usually do to kick off a new program year: head off to Camp Launch Weekend! This year’s Camp Launch Weekend took place over two days and one night at Camp Sealth on Vashon Island. Staff, mentors, and students caught the ferry to Vashon at Fauntleroy on Saturday, October 18 for a day of mingling community-building activities, including archery, challenge courses, and journey mapping. Attendees enjoyed a pleasant beach hike on Sunday morning and closed out the weekend with small-group reflection.

In addition to Camp Launch Weekend, mentors and students attended three events featuring activities to promote mixing and mingling prior to matching. These activities included a paint party on October 21, a day-hike at Discovery Park on October 25 facilitated by The Mountaineers, and Search Night on October 28. 

All program launch events will culminate in Match Night, taking place on Tuesday, November 04. Our students and mentors are amazing individuals who bring their unique strengths, talents, and perspectives to our Learning Community, and we can’t wait to see the ways that our matches and family groups (small activity groups) will grow and make memories together.

We want to thank our friends at Camp Sealth, The Mountaineers, and our mentors and students for making this year’s Program Launch memorable and special! Check out our Program Launch Photo Album, and stay tuned for Match Night photos and program updates as we move through the rest of the year. 

Interested in joining our program as a student or mentor, but missed the Learning Community enrollment deadline? Check out our introductory program, CfY Duos. Our next CfY Duos cohort will launch in March 2026. To get started, fill out a mentor or student interest form linked here.

And don’t forget to save the date for our 2026 Spring Soirée, taking place on Saturday, March 07 at Block 41 in Belltown! Watch our Events page for more information. Registration opens soon.