ABOUT US
Helping NY students find their civic voice
We started YCI as a small group of NYC public high school students when we saw that students were taking to the streets, but didn't know how to “Take the Next Step” to get engaged in a sustained way. We wanted to find a way to connect our peers to the youth-led organizations leading the sustained fight for justice.
Our goal is to connect students to long-lasting civic opportunities at the frontlines of the youth activist movement that are otherwise difficult to find.
We are building out a platform with our website, social media and newsletter, to bring together the events, workshops, and internship/fellowship opportunities for students to discover the multitude of options to make a difference in climate change, education, racial justice, and more.
Executive Board
Kenisha Mahajan
Digital Print Manager
Kenisha Mahajan (she/her) is a junior at Stuyvesant High School and the Digital Print manager at YCI. She is is very involved in advocacy, specifically criminal justice reform, and works on several advocacy projects outside of YCI. In addition to activism, Kenisha enjoys writing and journalism, serving as an editor for her school newspaper and a podcast member.
Emma Resetarits
Outreach Director
Emma is a freshman at Brearley. She joined YCI in the fall of 2020 and is now part of the outreach team. She is passionate about politics, community service, and civic engagement, and hopes to spread this passion to other kids in NYC. She is part of the mock trial and debate teams at her school and enjoys playing basketball.
Ivy Liu
Outreach Manager
Ivy Liu is from Queens, NY and she is a senior attending school at the Queens School of Inquiry. She is the Outreach Manager at YCI. She is passionate about youth advocacy, educational equity, and has an interest in media and business. Ivy loves theatre, making jewelry, singing, and designing.
Aksha Mia
Website Manager
My name is Aksha Mia. I am a student in the Bronx High School of Science, currently a junior. My passions revolve around coding and learning different coding languages to build successful projects. My hobbies include soccer, and chess.
Jason Bohner
Founder/Executive Director
Jason Bohner is an 18-year-old graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. Jason founded YCI after seeing a lack of sustained civic engagement amongst his peers. He wanted to create an accessible platform to connect young people to the youth-led organizations fighting each and every day for our futures. Jason understands the power of young people to collectivize and advocate for progress. He hopes to encourage enduring engagement by opening the door for young people to find opportunities for empowerment.
Ariana Tzanos
Content Director
Ariana is a rising junior in high school at the Academy of American Studies. She is passionate about politics and civic engagement. She enjoys painting, listening to podcasts and coding.
Lillian Kim-Mallow
Social Media Department Director
Lillian Kim-Mallow is a sophomore at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. She is a Movement Correspondent for the YCI. She plans to major in Political Science.
Anissa Eisenberg
Podcast Director
Anissa Eisenberg is a junior at Benjamin N Cardozo high school who’s passions include fighting for equality, journalism, and collecting feminist pieces of art. She is from Little Neck Queens and is a member of the Outreach Committee.
Katarina Kovacevic
Executive Board/SM Content Curator
Katarina is 18 years old and a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. She is taking a gap year from school to tutor, volunteer for a political campaign, and work as an Executive Board member and Social Media Content Curator for NYYCI before attending the University of Michigan in the fall of 2021. She is passionate about civics and politics and hopes to help others develop a long-term relationship with civics and politics as well.
Sohani Hossain
Outreach Manager/Podcast Director
Sohani Hossain is a high school Junior from NYC who plans to pursue medicine in the near future. She is a member of the Outreach Committee and strives to implement her advocacy skills in action by working with many nonprofit organizations that promote diversity/inclusion. Her passions include the healthcare industry, youth-led civic engagement and social justice. She has an appreciation for writing, wellness, skincare, makeup, fashion, traveling, helping others, photography and singing.
Tanver Sultan
Social Media Department Director
Tanver is 17 years old and a graduate of MHSIS. He will be attending Syracuse University this fall. He is the social media director at YCI. Tanver is passionate about social issues, civic engagement, climate justice, and racial justice.
Elizabeth Alzawahra
Organizational Manager
Elizabeth from Albany, New York, is a graduate from Albany High School. She will be attending Mount Holyoke College to study psychology and political science in January. Her main passions are people and music and you can typically find her performing songs or helping out her friends and local community.
Meet The Team
Maryfer Flores
Movement Correspondent
Maryfer is a junior at New Utrecht High School. As a current Movement Correspondent at NYYCI, Maryfer plans on majoring in Law Enforcement or Criminal Justice. She's passionate about racial equality, drawing, listening to music, and collecting random knick knacks.
Emilia Brandimarte
Movement Correspondent
Emilia is a senior from William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, Long Island. She is passionate about being the change she wants to see in politics and her community through direct action and organizational work. She is a staunch advocate for climate change, student voice, and LGBT inclusivity within education and healthcare.
Farisa Rahman
Movement Correspondent
Farisa attends a CTE Highschool and is in the 11th grade. She is a movement correspondent and is excited to learn about new organizations. She was raised in NYC (Queens) and has learned a lot about the importance of diversity. Her passions/hobbies include learning new languages (attempted 7 so far) , reading about architectural designing, attending virtual OR sessions, shopping for Japanese stationary and watching interior design shows.
Bella Bohner
Social media and Outreach
Bella is Junior at NYU Gallatin studying how the marketing of rap reflects culture through the lenses of race class and gender. She was born and raised in the city and graduated from Beacon in 2018. She is very passionate about music, politics and civic engagement. She hopes to change the music industry into a more equitable institution.
Maryam Oguntola
Movement Correspondent
Maryam is a sophomore at John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a major in law and society. She works as a movement correspondent for NYYCI. She immigrated from Nigeria in 2013 and now lives in New York City. She is very passionate about social justice, immigration laws, and ways to reduce Islamophobia in her community. She loves to read books and write during her free time.
Young Seo Kim
Movement Correspondent
Young Seo Kim is a junior from Guatemala and is one of the Movement Correspondents for NYYCI. She likes to play the guitar and plays soccer in her school's varsity team. She plans to pursue a major in either Political Science or International Relations & Affairs.
Autumn Swartz
Social Media
Autumn Swartz is a senior at Staten Island Technical High School. She’s a military child whose lived in Virginia and New York, and is very passionate about LGBTQ+ rights and working towards equality between the different socioeconomic classes. When she has downtime she likes to play sports and sing.
Madina Amber
MC
Madina is a American Pakistani and a senior at UASLE. She is currently a MC at NYCYCI. Madina loves to make artwork, study history, discuss her motivations, and strive toward her inspirations and goals. She loves to be involved in collective work with various organizations.
Martina Dosa
Upstate Expansion Coordinator
Martine (she/her) is a high school junior in the Syracuse City School District. She is passionate about using values of empathy to work towards education justice. With NYYCI, Martine is excited to be bringing a more accesible civic education space to the Upstate region, especially in her local community of Syracuse. Martine is an avid fan of Google Calendar and long hikes.
Binta Doumbia
Movement Correspondent
Binta Doumbia student at high school for environmental studies a junior. Passionate about social justice watches documentaries as a hobby. Born in Ivory Coast moved to the United States 5 years ago.