We're a completely volunteer-run 501c3! 100% of funds raised go towards this party and Anaheim Youtopia.

At-risk youth tend to have a lot more on their plate from a young age than others. This truth makes it difficult and, oftentimes, seemingly unimportant to focus on pursuing education. But, as we're sure you know, anyone who has graduated High School and been to college can tell you that it really is the best way to gain financial stability and social skills that at-risk youth otherwise lack. Anaheim Youtopia has put together a community-style Graduation Party with food, music, games, a raffle, vendors, and a spray paint pop-up wall to let the kids know that we see them out here trying! We want this party to serve as something consistent in their otherwise inconsistent lives. We want it to be an incentive to keep going. We want to broaden their horizons by providing them the opportunity to meet new people and learn about new possibilities from carefully curated vendors.

Please help us make the School's Out Grad Party 2022 a memorable day for the youth of Anaheim!

Sponsor A Graduate: $100.00

Sponsor A Raffle Prize: $50.00

Sponsor Graduation Photos: $30.00

Sponsor A Meal: $15.00

**Sponsor The Event: $500.00

**Event sponsors: we will be thanking you/r company in social media posts leading up to the event, verbally at the event, and have your name/logo visible on a special banner during the entirety of the event.

A note from Anaheim Youtopia Executive Director, Nikki Klein:

"I grew up as an at-risk child in Anaheim. I spent most of my time at Clara Barton Elementary either asleep or in the office. At Ball Jr. High School, I was frequently removed from my classes because of my attitude and spent more afternoons in detention than not. I had been suspended and spent both summers of junior high school attending summer school as well as many Saturdays in weekend detention. At Loara High School, I was kicked out of marching band within two weeks of my freshman year and spent my extracurricular periods walking around the school and sneaking into my friends' classes. Even after I was accepted into the Orange County School of Arts, I still found myself completely disinterested in school so I tested out after the 10th grade and got my first job. As an adult, I now have the words to explain why this was my developmental education experience. 

I was a child of trauma. My brain matured faster than kids who hadn't experienced trauma, and the difficult experiences that came from my dysfunctional upbringing made me frustrated, skeptical, and ultimately I felt disrespected by practically every authority figure that I came in contact with. I've always been smart, that wasn't the problem. I've also never been a lazy person, overworking is a traumatic response and a dysfunctional coping mechanism. What I lacked was unrelenting support, social skills, the feeling of love, and a reason to believe in education. Despite that, I attended college many times from 16 years old through adulthood. Nothing ever stuck. I had no guidance, no positive role models, and no support. 

It wasn't until I was 26 during my first semester of French at Fullerton College that I started having positive social interactions, found a professor who believed in me and appreciated my story and abilities, and learned what pursuing a career in languages could offer me. My two years learning french with Madame Reinhardt began tapping away at the marble walls I had built around me and showed me that vulnerability can be a good thing. It also helped me see that some of the reasons I felt alienated my whole life were simply American, so learning about another way of life broadened my horizons and empowered me. It also led me to gain a job teaching youth in France and launched my passion for learning languages. Unfortunately due to illness, I was unable to stay in France for long. But now I practice 5 spoken languages and 4 computer programming languages. 

I put together the annual School's Out Grad Party for all the kids in our city who have never had a graduation photo, who don't think they should or can graduate, who think school is a waste of their time, who can be the first in their family to graduate, who don't have anyone in their corner knowing that they can accomplish anything they set their mind to, who can't afford to celebrate their success, who don't know what celebrating looks like, who don't have friends, who don't have family, who don't think they can afford college, who are afraid of going to a new school, etc.

I appreciate you taking the time to learn more about me and the drive behind why an annual graduation party will change lives. We hope to continuously build upon this so we can offer more to kids like I was every year. Our future goal is to be able to offer memory books for those who can't afford year books from their schools, scholarships, summer internships, and more!

If any of what I shared resonated with you, please consider helping us pay for this party! The more funds we have to work with the better the event."

Thank you,

Nikki Klein

Executive Director of Anaheim Youtopia

"Community is what you make it."