Youth Empowered Action Academy

Youth ActivismThis winter, we launched a new program–Youth Empowered Action Academy–in partnership with Portland Parks and Recreation Teen Force. This program is designed to be a “Day of YEA” where participants build the knowledge, skills, confidence and community to make a difference on the issues they care about.

This past Saturday, February 18, 2012, we had our second YEA Academy in Portland. Participants are working on such great things on their issues. Here are a few highlights:

  • Tegan is speaking in many different classrooms at her school about child sex trafficking and what can be done about it. She is working with her community service club to raise funds for Portland organisations that work on this issue such as Stop Child Trafficking Now and the Sexual Assault Resource Center of Oregon. Their goal is to raise $1000.
  • Reverie is working with his band to raise awareness and funds for the Nature Conservancy and their current campaign to protect the Columbia River Gorge from developers, including Nestle, who want to build a bottled water plant there.
  • Griffin is working to make recycled guitar picks out of old credit cards and other sturdy plastic and selling them as a fundraiser for nonprofit organizations.
  • Danielle is working with the Gay-Straight Alliance at her high school to provide accurate sexual information and resources to her classmates.
  • Ketchura is getting involved in volunteering at Friends of Trees.

These are just a few of the things that are happening right now at YEA Academy and we are looking forward to expanding this program, both in Oregon and in other states. Our next YEA Academy in Portland is March 10th and on March 31st we are having an overnight! For more information about these programs, see our website.