Our History

At the Sacramento Spring Fling in February 1999, a few members from the ACYPAA (All California Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous Round-up) Advisory Council showed up and gathered as many young people as they could find. They encouraged us to start a young people’s committee and put in a bid for the ACYPAA Round-up. That encouragement sparked interest, and a few weeks later a group gathered in a living room where elections were held to form a committee, which was later named SACYPAA.

Around this same time, there were already two other struggling young people’s groups in Sacramento. Those groups decided to come together with SACYPAA to unify young people in the area, which increased involvement and strengthened the desire to build something lasting. SACYPAA’s first meeting and event was held in May 1999 and was co-hosted by the Danville Young People’s Friday night meeting. That event helped kick off the fire and excitement that carries on today.

In 2000, SACYPAA put in a bid for ACYPAA in Orange County and was awarded the conference to be held in Sacramento in 2001. After returning home, the committee was temporarily renamed “The ACYPAA Host Committee” for one year. The committee did not want SACYPAA to go away, so it was decided that a weekly meeting would be started. That meeting took place on Thursday nights at 7:30 PM and was called the “Too Young” meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, which has since dissolved.

Hosting the ACYPAA Round Up was an experience that no one wanted to miss, and it changed the lives of many SACYPAA members forever. After hosting the Round Up, SACYPAA reformed with many new members who had caught the fire of young people’s recovery through attending ACYPAA.

At the next elections, SACYPAA decided to begin bidding for ICYPAA (International Conference of Young People). After many years of bidding for ICYPAA, it was decided that SACYPAA would change direction and bid again for ACYPAA. In April 2007, SACYPAA traveled to Los Angeles to bid for ACYPAA and, to the committee’s amazement, Sacramento was awarded the conference for the second time. SACYPAA was able to fulfill a dream and was renamed The ACYPAA Host Committee for the second time, hosting the 2008, 36th Annual Round Up.

SACYPAA once again disbanded, and new committees formed over the years. The focus eventually became a WACYPAA bid committee, with SACYPAA working to bring the Western Area Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous to Sacramento. SACYPAA planned to travel to Arizona in January 2013 to bid again for this conference.

SACYPAA continued bidding for WACYPAA in the years starting in 2009. Then, after driving to Portland in 2015, SACYPAA was awarded WACYPAA in 2016. The committee placed a token bid in 2017, bid again in 2018, and in 2019 SACYPAA was awarded ACYPAA and hosted at the Sheraton in 2020.

In 2021, SACYPAA was small after maintaining Zoom events throughout COVID. By August, the River Float was held in person, and the committee began gaining traction again. After a couple token bids in 2023 and 2024, the 2025 committee grew from 7 members to 35 by the end of the year, put in a complete bid, and was awarded Summit, which was hosted on Halloween weekend of 2025. SACYPAA continues to flourish and is currently bidding for 2026.

We meet every second Sunday of the month for our business meeting at 1:00 PM at United Methodist, and we encourage all to attend and come find out more about SACYPAA. We are very involved in General Service and continue to fulfill our primary purpose of carrying the message to the alcoholic who still suffers, no matter what their age. We have a regular monthly speaker meeting and event on the 4th Saturday of every month at Pioneer Congregational Church. Please come out and see us, and always keep in mind that Young People’s is defined as young at heart with room to grow…