California YMCA Youth & Government was founded in 1948 with its first statewide conference held in Sacramento on February 18-19, 1949. One Hundred Forty-Seven delegates from 48 delegations attended the two day conference. The West Los Angeles Branch YMCA had the largest delegation with 11, followed by Santa Barbara with 10. Seventeen delegations only had a single delegate, including one from San Diego. From the other end of the state, five delegates attended from Eureka & Humboldt County.
The entertainment at the first Governor's Banquet was provided by Broadway singing star John Raitt, whose father was a YMCA director. He was accompanied on the piano by his wife, Marjorie. Their first child, Bonnie, was born later that year.
The Model Court Program made its statewide debut in 1973 at the 25th Model Legislature & Court. It has grown from a Supreme Court only program to one that includes multiple Appellate & Trial Courts, and a Judicial Review program area.
During the first 24 years of California's YMCA Youth & Gov't Program, there were separate regional conferences in the fall: one to train delegates and then another to elect officers. The various offices rotated north and south. The first Statewide Elections conference was held at Camp San Luis Obispo in January 1973 to elect the 25th Youth Governor - the first to be elected by delegates from across the state. The winning candidate that year wouldn't have been able to run under the previous structure because they lived in the half of the state that would have been out of rotation under the previous structure. The same thing happened the next year too.