The milestone arrives as the program’s steward, Lola Osborne, Deputy Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services, prepares to leave City Hall on June 30. The anniversary and Osborne’s departure mark a transition for a program the city has run since 2001 for high school students in the City of Pasadena.
The Youth Ambassador Program, sponsored by the City Manager’s Office through its Northwest Programs Division, gives high school students ages 14 to 18 paid on-the-job work experience at special events held by nonprofit and for-profit organizations across Pasadena.
Students serve as docents, attendants, event planners and program spokespersons, and may also help with event setup and breakdown, creation of marketing and promotional materials, and event planning. The year-round program is administered with application submissions directed to the Jackie Robinson Community Center, 1020 N. Fair Oaks Ave., in northwest Pasadena. Recent program operations, events, and budget reporting have been administered through the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department, and the current precise administrative reporting line should be confirmed directly with the city.
The program began in 2001, co-created by Jaylene Moseley — founder and longtime president of the Flintridge Center — and Mario Leonard, then the city’s Northwest Programs Manager. Moseley died in May 2020 at 69.
“One of the greatest honors of my career was being entrusted with the Youth Ambassador Program by Mario Leonard, former Northwest Programs Manager,” Osborne wrote in a farewell letter. “Created in 2001 by Jaylene Moseley and Mario Leonard, this program brought together remarkable high school students whose eagerness to learn and serve inspired me every day.”
Ambassadors are notified of available events on the last Monday of each month for the following month’s events and sign up on a first-come, first-served basis through an online system.
To stay active, students must attend at least three events a month, maintain a minimum 2.5 grade-point average, and complete a registration process that includes a school ID, a parental permission and release form, a direct deposit form, a W-4 and a California minor work permit. A parent or guardian must be present at the student’s interview.
Participants must attend a high school in the City of Pasadena; schools represented in the program include Blair High School, John Muir High School, Pasadena High School, Marshall Fundamental, Polytechnic School, and Mayfield School.
Students are paid hourly through the city’s payroll system by direct deposit, though the program’s parental waiver notes that the City of Pasadena “is not an employment agency and cannot place the Participant in a job” but rather “coordinates work experience opportunities with profit/non-profit organizations.”
From 2010 to 2023, Youth Ambassadors served meals every Wednesday through the Pasadena Hot Meals program, contributing to more than 170,000 meals served over those 13 years, according to Osborne’s farewell letter.
In Fiscal Year 2026, the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department reported providing 207 employment opportunities to youth through the Youth Ambassador and ROSE programs combined.
The program also tracks its graduates. Its Class of 2026 included 17 students enrolled at institutions including the University of California, Los Angeles (4 students), Pasadena City College (5 students), UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside, California State University Los Angeles, University of Pittsburgh, University of Utah, Chaffey Community College, Citrus Community College and San Francisco State University.
In an internal Ambassador survey published on the city’s program webpage, anonymous participants cited learning ‘how to work with others,’ ‘exposure to new opportunities,’ ‘helping the community,’ ‘meeting new people,’ and ‘networking with other youth groups and organizations’ as benefits of the program.
The program is most directly associated with District 3, which covers the northwest Pasadena area. The district’s councilmember, Justin Jones — himself a product of city internships, including the Rose Program at Pasadena Water and Power — was re-elected to a four-year term in the June 2 primary.
In her farewell letter, Osborne wrote: “Their leadership at hundreds of community events, their achievements, and continued commitment to Pasadena gives me confidence that the city’s future is in a good place.”
The program office can be reached at (626) 744-6879 or online by emailing youthambassadors@
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