Serving the future at the Sacramento Youth Center

By Keyshawn Davis | Solving Sacramento Raquel Shipp is the executive director and co-founder of the Sacramento Youth Center. (Photo by Keyshawn Davis) Raquel Shipp said that throughout the years she has often struggled to find a space for her three young children to play sports or participate in art classes. She found that she had to leave her North Sacramento neighborhood in order to access these kinds of enrichment activities.& She envisioned a place where multiple activities for youth could be offered. Shipp also knew from her experience working with young refugees that many teenagers share a similar experience of not having enough resources and options available for recreation. So in 2019, Shipp and her husband, Adam Shipp, found a spacious 15,000-square-foot building on 1901 Del Paso Boulevard and opened the nonprofit Sacramento Youth Center. In February 2023, they purchased the building.& The SYC has workforce, educational and recreational amenities, including a black box theater, recording studio, a ballroom with a 250-person occupancy, a full-service cafe and a charter school. There’s also a suite with video games, pool tables and a lounge area. The SYC is funded through a network of donors and grant funding, according to Shipp. “We...