empowering youth on and off the field through mentoring, mental health support & opportunities that might not be possible without outside support, because it takes a village!
About Us
Investing confidence & resources into our future
The Oregon Lightning Youth Initiative is guided by a dedicated board and a passionate team, including educators, mental health specialists, and community advocates. Our board members bring diverse and well rounded expertise from education, youth development, and public service, ensuring strong leadership and strategic vision to create real impact.
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Every staff member is committed to empowering Central Oregon’s youth through mentorship, mental health support, providing a safe place to hangout after-school, providing access to sports, teaching life skills. Together, our board and staff work collaboratively with our oregon lightning football team, local schools, businesses, and healthcare partners to create lasting, positive impact for the young people in our community.
Our Story
Our whole team has a story and their own "why" when it comes to why we wanted to be a part of this mission and why youth. i think in many ways we have all met kids and teens that we can see our younger selves in and know exactly where those choices that have been made can potentially land you.
because of our life experiences we want to help these younger generations hopefully avoid situations that are not ideal and instill the confidence to know they can do anything, and to think bigger than their current situations.
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putting ourselves in their shoes, we all thought about how our younger selves would have loved the opportunity to be mentored by professional athletes that overcame their insecurities to achieve goals they thought were just dreams. out of our empathy and life experiences that maybe didn't have to happen, the oregon lightning Youth initiative was born.
