Young America's Foundation
YAF stands for Young America’s Foundation. YAF was started in the 1960s to support conservative students on college campuses during a turbulent time of leftist social unrest among the youth. Ronald Reagan was actively involved from the 1960s-1980s, and YAF has been going strong ever since, expanding to high schools and middle schools!
YAF is much like TPUSA, and it is the leading organization for young conservatives. With more than 60 years of history, YAF helps students like you find support, promote your conservative views, and take action.
YAF is much like TPUSA, and it is the leading organization for young conservatives. With more than 60 years of history, YAF helps students like you find support, promote your conservative views, and take action.
YAF at South Heights
South Heights has a local YAF Chapter open to all students!
Fall 2025 Meeting Schedule
Upcoming YAF Events Nationwide
Fall High School Conference @ the Reagan Ranch Center - Santa Barbara, California
Fall High School Free Enterprise Leadership Conference @ the Reagan Ranch Center - Santa Barbara, California
Spring High School Conference @ the Reagan Ranch Center - Santa Barbara, California
Spring Middle School Expedition @ the Museum of the Bible - Washington DC
Summer High School Conference @ the Reagan Ranch Center - Santa Barbara, California
Summer High School Conference @ the Reagan Boyhood Home - Dixon, Illinois
Summer Middle School Expedition @ the Reagan Boyhood Home - Dixon, Illinois
The Sharon Statement
September 11, 1960
September 11, 1960
| sharon_statement.pdf |
In the fall of 1960, some 90 young conservatives met at the Sharon, Connecticut, home of National Review editor William F. Buckley, Jr., where they founded Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) to serve as an organization for young conservative activists. As their statement of principle, the group adopted the Sharon Statement, which was drafted by 26-year-old newspaper editor M. Stanton Evans. Written “at this time of moral and political crisis,” the statement is a succinct summary of the central ideas of modern American conservatism.
Among those principles are the following:
This statement of principles denies the basic premises of Progressivism and liberalism. It also recalls earlier New England declarations about fundamental liberties—for example, the Essex Resolves and Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. While the language differs, the concerns for liberty remain the same over the centuries.
Declaration & Resolves of the First Continental Congress
Virginia Declaration of Rights
Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights
Massachusetts Declaration of Rights & Constitution
Essex Resolves / Suffolk Resolves
Among those principles are the following:
- Free will and moral authority come from God;
- political and economic liberty are essential for a free people and free institutions;
- government must be strictly and constitutionally limited;
- the market economy is the economic system most compatible with freedom; and
- Communism [aka Socialism] must be defeated, not merely contained.
This statement of principles denies the basic premises of Progressivism and liberalism. It also recalls earlier New England declarations about fundamental liberties—for example, the Essex Resolves and Massachusetts Constitution of 1780. While the language differs, the concerns for liberty remain the same over the centuries.
Declaration & Resolves of the First Continental Congress
Virginia Declaration of Rights
Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights
Massachusetts Declaration of Rights & Constitution
Essex Resolves / Suffolk Resolves
Timeline of YAF history
Founding (1960–1969)
Founding (1960–1969)
- 1960: Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) was founded by young conservatives and libertarians at the home of William F. Buckley Jr. in Sharon, Connecticut. The group drafted its statement of principles, known as the "Sharon Statement," which became a key document for the modern conservative movement.
- 1962: Ronald Reagan joined the National Advisory Board of YAF.
- 1964: YAF actively supported Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign.
- 1969: A different group of conservative students at Vanderbilt University founded University Information Services, which was later renamed Young America's Foundation.
- 1974: YAF partnered with the American Conservative Union to co-sponsor the first Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
- 1980: YAF supported Ronald Reagan's successful bid for the presidency.
- 1988: YAF won a major free speech victory in the Supreme Court case Boos v. Barry, which struck down a law restricting protests outside of embassies.
- 1998: Young America's Foundation acquired Ronald Reagan's "Rancho del Cielo" with the support of the Reagan family.
- 2001: The National Journalism Center merged with the Young America's Foundation.
- 2011: The two organizations, Young Americans for Freedom and Young America's Foundation, officially merged under the Young America's Foundation name.
- 2017: YAF won a lawsuit against California State University, Los Angeles, over its handling of a Ben Shapiro lecture.
- 2018: The organization won another free speech victory against the University of California, Berkeley.
- 2021: Former Wisconsin governor and presidential candidate Scott Walker became president of YAF.
- 2023: YAF became a member of the advisory board for Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation initiative aiming to reshape the federal governmen
