Young Adult Leaders Workshops
Young Adult Leaders Workshops
Track Description/Goals:
This day-long youth forum gave both young adults and folks over 25 an opportunity to dig into effective strategies and barriers to making space for greater young adult empowerment and leadership in grassroots efforts. The morning session was comprised of facilitated discussions among young adults and folks 25 and older that allowed for frank, open conversations. These morning conversations then flowed into a post-lunch group discussion that generated concrete strategies and best practices to support youth leadership, and build understanding and connections across generations, issue areas and regions. Participants were asked to remain in this track for the entire day.
This day-long youth forum gave both young adults and folks over 25 an opportunity to dig into effective strategies and barriers to making space for greater young adult empowerment and leadership in grassroots efforts. The morning session was comprised of facilitated discussions among young adults and folks 25 and older that allowed for frank, open conversations. These morning conversations then flowed into a post-lunch group discussion that generated concrete strategies and best practices to support youth leadership, and build understanding and connections across generations, issue areas and regions. Participants were asked to remain in this track for the entire day.
Morning Session
The morning youth track was facilitated by Grow Hartford Youth Program, a Hartford high school-based program whose mission is to educate, agitate and organize with youth on the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality within the food system. Students run a campaign called the Ten Slices Of Justice, working toward a school lunch program with more dignity and better quality food. To learn more click here! The morning youth track was designed to be an open discussion to get participants thinking about their own beliefs and identities within the food system. This activity, taken from the Soul Fire Farm curriculum helped expose hidden assumptions about hunger and poverty. Participants answered questions with their feet, walking along a spectrum to show their position on issues.
Afternoon Session
In the afternoon workshop, participants focused on what authentic young adult leadership looks like, and how to implement it in their work. They started by articulating their vision of young adult leadership and empowerment, focusing on the conditions that hinder or support young adults to step up and lead. Next, participants shifted from defining “what” they want to see, to developing concrete strategies and best practices for “how” to bring this vision about. The session concluded with participants applying these strategies to scenarios from their programs or experiences.
The morning youth track was facilitated by Grow Hartford Youth Program, a Hartford high school-based program whose mission is to educate, agitate and organize with youth on the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality within the food system. Students run a campaign called the Ten Slices Of Justice, working toward a school lunch program with more dignity and better quality food. To learn more click here! The morning youth track was designed to be an open discussion to get participants thinking about their own beliefs and identities within the food system. This activity, taken from the Soul Fire Farm curriculum helped expose hidden assumptions about hunger and poverty. Participants answered questions with their feet, walking along a spectrum to show their position on issues.
Afternoon Session
In the afternoon workshop, participants focused on what authentic young adult leadership looks like, and how to implement it in their work. They started by articulating their vision of young adult leadership and empowerment, focusing on the conditions that hinder or support young adults to step up and lead. Next, participants shifted from defining “what” they want to see, to developing concrete strategies and best practices for “how” to bring this vision about. The session concluded with participants applying these strategies to scenarios from their programs or experiences.
Workshop Facilitators
Sarana Beik
Grow Hartford Youth Program
Sarana Beik is a mother, an herbalist, a permaculturist, a community organizer, a youth worker, and the current Youth Program director at Hartford Food System. She supports the 13 youth running the Ten Slices of Justice campaign to improve school lunches in her home town of Hartford, CT.
Youth Facilitators: Amaya Santos, Natalee Ware, and Isaiah Rodriguez
Grow Hartford Youth Program
Sarana Beik is a mother, an herbalist, a permaculturist, a community organizer, a youth worker, and the current Youth Program director at Hartford Food System. She supports the 13 youth running the Ten Slices of Justice campaign to improve school lunches in her home town of Hartford, CT.
Youth Facilitators: Amaya Santos, Natalee Ware, and Isaiah Rodriguez
Sally Millius
Grow Windham
Sally Milius is a former high school teacher and service-learning consultant who decided that gardens were much more fun than classrooms and that Willimantic is the greatest community she could ever call home. In 2011, she co-founded GROW Windham with Alice Rubin, the general manager of the Willimantic Food Coop.
Grow Windham
Sally Milius is a former high school teacher and service-learning consultant who decided that gardens were much more fun than classrooms and that Willimantic is the greatest community she could ever call home. In 2011, she co-founded GROW Windham with Alice Rubin, the general manager of the Willimantic Food Coop.