The Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants (CERI) is pleased to announce the establishment of its new youth services program: Reviving Our Youths’ Aspirations (ROYA), named in memory of Roya Forouzesh, who was a close supporter of the clinic and a counselor who passionately worked with at-risk youth and their families. Launched in 2008 with the support of Bay Area funders, ROYA is a holistic mental health intervention program designed specifically for Cambodian teens and young adults.
The purpose of the ROYA program is to prevent the involvement of this young and vulnerable population in crimes, gangs, prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse, and teen pregnancy. ROYA provides at-risk youth with individual and group counseling, case management, and other support services, in conjunction with family counseling and parent education for their parents or caregivers. The ultimate goal is help these young people develop their potential and become leaders in their community. All services are provided free of charge.
ROYA is unique not only because it provides a range of services for Cambodian American youth but also because it is connected with the parents of these children. It can therefore make much more of an intergenerational change in the dynamics of the parent-child relationship, helping clients to overcome communication issues and estrangement. In addition to clinical services, it takes an all-encompassing approach, providing home visits, workshops, support groups, parent education, and family counseling, helping to generate closeness, healing, compassion, and understanding among family members.
This is especially important as many of these young people have no idea about the extent of the violence and hardships that their parents experienced and how this may cause certain traumas. Most of the young people have either been sheltered from the truth by their parents, or their parents are too traumatized to talk about the experience, or there are language barriers between the parents and their children (i.e., the parents speak Cambodian, the children speak English). Once they learn about their parents’ experience, it opens them up to a new perspective about what they want to do with their lives and new sense of cultural heritage and pride in their community. The family can also begin a deeper level of healing.
Community partnerships are another important strategy employed by the program. CERI is actively cultivating working relationships with other community-based social service, legal, and educational providers, as well a law enforcement officials, to establish a network of support services for youth program clients. Current partners include the UC Berkeley Cambodian Students Association, Laney College’s Project Bridge program, ABC (a paid apprenticeship program), Bay Area Legal Aid (a nonprofit legal aid organization for low-income individuals), Banteay Srei (a program established in 2004 to address the increasing number of young Southeast Asian women engaged in or at-risk of sexual exploitation), La Clinica (a community health clinic), and Serve the People (a grassroots group for Asian/Pacific Islanders).
ROYA has been honored to enjoy the support of a range of Bay Area funders, including: Cisco Silicon Valley Impact Grant Program, The San Francisco Foundation, the Siegel Foundation, the Y & H Soda Foundation, the van Loben Sels/Rembe Rock Foundation, The Danny Weinstein Foundation.

Our services have brought remarkable healing and empowerment to our clients.
We need your help to maintain our current programs and launch our new youth program. more info