Young Ambitious Activists: An Organization Seeking Change
August 16, 2020 - San Antonio
Fighting for Change. Amanda Moon, of the group Young Ambitious Activists speaks to a group during a planned video shoot in July. She says the group formed from a group of strangers who saw something wrong and wanted to fix it. Photo: Ryan Vestil.
By Brigid Cooley - Staff Intern, San Antonio Sentinel
As community members lined the streets of downtown San Antonio for the George Floyd protest in May, a group of young people motivated to give a voice to those often silenced found themselves joining together. The activists organized, planned and collaborated until they created the Young Ambitious Activists, an organization committed to creating positive change within the city.
“Young Ambitious Activists is essentially just a group of strangers who saw something wrong and wanted to fix it,” said Amanda Moon, 29, head of PR and media relations for the group. “Now, we’re trying to act as a platform to uplift the city of San Antonio; that’s really what we’re about.”
The organization, founded by a group of about five young adults, has grown, now with members spanning from teens to those in their 40s. They focus on addressing inequality within the Black community and police brutality, but plan to address many different issues while calling for change.
“Once we feel this issue has been tackled, once we see some real change actually start to happen, then I think we’ll feel more comfortable moving on to other issues,” said Lexi Qaiyyim, 25, member and newly-elected president of YAA.
Lexi Qaiyyim, member and president of YAA, poses for a photograph during a planned video shoot in July. The organization hosts community cleanups, charitable drives and peaceful vigils in addition to protests and rallies. Photo: Ryan Vestil.
Organizing a group during a global pandemic has proven to be difficult, pushing members to be hyper vigilant about social distancing during demonstrations.
“We try to do our best … obviously there’s still risk involved if you’re coming out and you’re meeting with a group of people, but as an organization, we decided to do our best to follow the CDC guidelines,” Moon said.
YAA enlists some of their volunteers to provide hand sanitizer to those attending protests and demonstrations. If they host the event, they provide temperature checks, ask attendees to wear masks and promote social distancing as much as possible.
Like other groups supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, members say the organization has received backlash but remains vigilant in their mission.
“Black lives mattering is not about politics, it’s a human issue,” said Valerie Reiffert, vice-president and founding member of YAA.
Reiffert, 32, is a volunteer deputy registrar who is passionate about getting people registered to vote. A member of the Radical Registrars, a group dedicated to making voting accessible, Reiffert helps to provide YAA events with stations where attendees can register to vote.
“We’re all working toward the same goal and we work together so with being a registrar, it has extended me to work with the other groups as well,” Reiffert said.
In their short lifetime, the YAA has hosted community cleanups, rallies, drives to collect donations for the homeless community and vigils honoring the lives of Garret Foster, a man killed at a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, and Vanessa Guillen, a U.S. Army soldier killed at Ft. Hood. Members of the group also volunteered to help San Antonio poet laureate Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson paint a short poem on the streets surrounding Travis Park.
“We’re trying to be the ears on the ground to see what the community wants to address and then talk to our legislators, see what we can do with them,” said Moon, sharing how the group aims to provide educational opportunities discussing different marginalized groups within the community.
Those interested in getting involved with the Young Ambitious Activists can visit their website or their Facebook and Instagram pages for more information and dates of upcoming events.
Brigid Cooley is the editor-in-chief of The Mesquite, a student publication of Texas A&M - San Antonio. E-mail her at reporter@sasentinel.com.