Spring has sprung! The weather is getting warmer, the leaves are returning to the trees, and our teens want to share what they have been up to at YouthBridge-NY. Over the past few months, we have continued to see engaging dialogue and growth from our teens in our Skillbuilding Workshops and Social Action Committees. Keep reading to hear from our teens about how they relate what they have been learning in our program to their own lives.
LEARNING TO MAKE CHANGE
by Ava Wong
I joined YouthBridge because I wanted to learn how to make a change in my community. I was drawn to the program immediately after I saw it on social media— YouthBridge was a unique opportunity to learn how to advocate for social issues I was passionate about alongside a group of peers my age. In the past, I was most familiar with advocacy through writing articles and opinion pieces on topics that were important to me, like gender-neutral bathrooms or the teen mental health crisis. YouthBridge was a way to expand my skills and learn and grow alongside a diverse, inclusive community.
After starting the program in August, it instantly exceeded my expectations. While I knew that group work would be important, I was pleasantly surprised by how everything was structured around collaborative and community learning. Especially in the Food Justice Committee, with only seven people, we have been able to have in-depth discussions about food insecurity, social justice, and how to make change. Through these experiences, I’ve connected with teenagers from across the city who I would never have met otherwise.
This last month, in March, we had the honor of going to The Workers Circle to learn about community organizing for our monthly skill-building workshop. This meeting was eye-opening to the different ways we can effectively organize our communities to make change. After hearing examples of successful community organizing, we learned the steps and strategies to successfully organize in our communities. After, we thought about issues in our schools and brainstormed ways to organize in our communities to make a change. The idea that stuck with me most was how important it is to pressure the people in power to make a change. I learned that some of the most effective strategies to put pressure on the situation are publicizing issues on social media or student walkouts. Overall, I enjoyed this workshop - it made me consider how I could apply this to my own life and possibly organize it in my school or, more generally, in my community.
Looking ahead, I’m looking forward to more workshops and food justice meetings! Already, I’ve gotten the chance to build connections, learn, and grow from my experience at YouthBridge. I’m excited to continue to learn from both amazing guest speakers and my peers about how to make change!
BUILDING BRIDGES, NOT BARRIERS
by Masha Zaitsev
Understanding and exposing oneself to as many diverse perspectives and opinions as possible on social and political issues is crucial, as this allows us to create informed perspectives. I joined YouthBridge because it was the ideal platform to connect and collaborate with other young leaders, broaden my perspective and experience, and set myself up to create change. I was particularly interested in joining the Food Justice Committee to educate myself and take action against the widespread food inequality in the United States. This is an important issue to me because I believe food is directly correlated to the health and well-being of humans, and access to nutritious food should thus be a right for everyone. From the committee, I have learned how hard it can be for many people to obtain nutritious foods. Many low-income neighborhoods either do not have supermarkets nearby, or very few of them, and usually have more large food corporations in the area. The transportation and time that it takes to get to supermarkets, along with the high prices of many nourishing foods, make them highly inaccessible. This leaves no choice for many but to resort to what is closest and least expensive – a result of the country’s rigged system. Thus, I want to create change around making whole, nourishing foods as attainable as possible. These disparities are rooted very deeply in other factors such as income inequality – and, therefore, can only be changed by first addressing the oppression of our country’s system.
This month’s workshop explained the psychology behind de-escalating and escalating situations. An aspect of this workshop that I appreciated was how it stressed self-awareness. Although we might not be able to control someone else’s reaction, we have control over ours. The leaders of this workshop began by talking to us about what can make a person even more angry versus how to communicate with them in a calm manner. Getting into someone’s personal space, using a raised voice, harsh language, instigating fear, or resorting to violence can all escalate situations. One that is less expected, however, is being accusatory. Although we may sometimes want to get our point across, it is important to remember how we deliver this message. Being accused tends to make people justify themselves and their actions, no matter how severe they may have been. Instead of making them more willing to listen to your point of view, they turn into their shell, only amplifying their feelings of anger or annoyance towards you and the situation. These are all clearly not productive ways to resolve conflicts and usually do not end in a peaceful compromise or solution. However, making a person or group feel safe, heard, and understood allows you and the other party to avoid violence and hopefully have a peaceful interaction. In the workshop, we discussed the physical ways of doing this, such as using calm body language and voice– and just showing general respect to the other group. Another was by going into the conflict with an open mind. Additionally, one of the main takeaways was the tone of voice that you use. The tone– not the words– tends to initiate more conflicts and thus matters more if you are trying to de-escalate a situation.
These takeaways made us more aware of how we might handle ourselves in certain cases. Although it may be hard to put words into action, especially when things get very heated in the moment, discussing these strategies is the first step in that direction. Furthermore, this knowledge is not “common sense” to everyone. Something that may be obvious to you is not necessarily apparent to someone else, and vice versa. This thought process is an example of something that can also cause conflict and miscommunication and only emphasizes the importance of going into conflicts with sympathy and an open mind. You never know why someone may be getting particularly upset or having a particular reaction about something. We have all had different experiences in this life. Hence, violence actually begins to make less sense as you open up your mind to the experiences of the other party and the experiences that you want to have. The workshop's leaders illustrated these points by asking us to reflect on conflicts we have dealt with and to analyze a video of a fight on the NYC subway.
Although this workshop demonstrated the de-escalation and escalation of scenarios on a smaller scale, it applies much more broadly to today's world. From my understanding, one of the reasons there is so much violence in the United States, in particular, is because of how divided it is. Many voices are not heard, and many do not want to listen (especially to opposing points of view). As a result, feelings of anger and frustration arise, and as a consequence, this creates a lot more violence in our society. This is why workshops such as this one are so important. Learning to deal with conflict is key to creating a better future for ourselves and the world.
I look forward to more workshops and meetings where we equip ourselves with even more knowledge, hear from other voices, and work on tangible solutions to help the problems we have been discussing. My committee is currently working on the “Bridging the Gap Grant”, where we give a grant to a non-profit that battles food inequality. I am also looking forward to continue connecting with my peers!