http://worldyouth.org Youth Leadership Support Network
Youth Leadership Support Network
 
 
 
 

Trainings, Youth Summits and Workshops

For more info, please contact YLSN


YLSN maintains an intergenerational network of trainers, workshop facilitators and mentors who serve as primary resources for leadership development, community service, topical issues and life skills. YLSN provides workshops, trainings, festivals and designs seminars for local groups and groups visiting Washington DC on a wide variety of topics including:

  • Leadership Skills
  • Mural and Banner Painting
  • Peace Parade Preparations
  • Media Skills
  • Intercultural Coalition-Building
  • Faith and Spirituality
  • Violence Prevention
  • Team-Building and Group Process
  • Countering White Supremacy/Hate Crimes Prevention
  • Strategic Planning and Evaluation
  • Unity, Racism and Diversity
  • Sexuality, Homophobia and Identity
  • History
  • Paul Robeson, Voice of the People
  • Community Organizing
  • Public and Media Relations
  • Network Building
  • Conference and Festival Planning
  • Collaborative Performance Production Skills
  • Critical Issues

Workshops and seminars have been requested by DC area public and private schools and universities and diverse programs, including:

  • United Methodist Church National “Church and Society” Seminars
  • Congressional Hunger Fellows Program
  • Public Allies
  • Close-Up Foundation
  • Manna Community Development Center
  • Tides Foundation
  • US State Department International Visitors Programs, including delegates from Belarus, Brazil, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Germany, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovak Republic and United Kingdom. Issues ranging from youth leadership to hate crimes prevention. Organized seminars for Iraqi and DC teens summer of 2009, including participation from 15 local public and private high schools 
  • United States Postal Service
  • DC Building Leadership Organizing Communities 
  • Greater Washington Jewish Community Center
  • DC MultiCultural Community Services
  • Labor Heritage Foundation 
  • Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League
  • People to People International
  • Covenant House
  • Operation Understanding
  • Asian American LEAD
  • Facilitating Leadership in Youth
  • Young Women’s Drumming Empowerment Project
  • Young Women’s Project
  • Youth Action Research Group
  • Latin America Youth Center 
  • Project Discovery 
  • Institute for Policy Studies School  Action Leadership School
  • Community Impact
  • Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
  • Takoma Park Park and Recreation Department
  • Midnight Forum Hip Hop Youth Leadership Program
  • Justice for DC Youth
  • Mid-Atlantic Amnesty International
  • Bowdoin College
  • African Immigrants and Refugees Foundation
  • Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc ~ Phi Sigma Chapter ~ Rhoers Club
  • Young Hispanic Democrats
  • National Education Association Peace and Justice Caucus
  • Sisterfire DC: Women of Color Against Violence 
  • Million Mom March 
  • Washington Peace Center
  • Digital Sisters Inc.

SUMMITS

YLSN sponsored summits, workshops and trainings explore the "how's" of movement building and community empowerment. Summits combine partnerships, discussions, multi-media resources and performances to nourish activism and networks.

YLSN creates safe neutral space for people from diverse backgrounds, perspectives and experiences to meet each other to share talents, strategies and aspirations drawing from past and present experiences of youth activism.

In February of 2003 YLSN sponsored “Youth Activism Summit: Music, Media, Movements & Mentors" at Cada Vez Restaurant and Conference Center. Over 200 people participated in a program including music, workshops, networking and strategy discussions. Co-Sponsors included Digital Sisters Inc., Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, Midnight Forum DC Metro Youth Program, African Immigrants and Refugees Foundation, National Youth Rights Association, Young Hispanic Democrats,Washington Peace Center, WPFW 89.3FM Radio Coop, DC Independent Media Center,Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc ~ Phi Sigma Chapter ~ Rhoers Club.

Youth Activism Summit Participants received messages of support and encouragement for their leadership from Senator John Kerry, Senator Edward Kennedy, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, DC Councilmember Adrian Fenty, New York City Youth Bloc High School Peace & Justice Coalition, International Youth Coordination Council -- Nepal, Human Rights Education Radio Listener Club -- Nepal, Youth Development Foundation -- Pakistan, Synergy -- Ghana, Africa Youth Peace Call – Ghana, Ebenezer Youth of Namibia, Nelson & District Youth Centre/Nelson, British Columbia and youth groups that include performing arts programs and have expressed desire to develop partnerships from Spain, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Australia, England, Germany, Ghana, El Salvador, Somalia, Israel, Palestine, Kenya, Scotland, Canada, Sierra Leone, Russia, and several others.

In February of 2001, the YLSN sponsored "Study and Struggle: Intergenerational Youth Activist Summit, Celebrating 41 Years and 3 Generations of Youth Movements," at the Josephine Butler Parks Center in Washington, DC. Over 200 people attended the day and a half event, including 11 cultural performances, primarily youth from the DC Metro area. Out-of-town guests included activists from Mississippi, San Francisco, New York City and Quebec -- bringing their perspectives and experiences to support youth activism in Washington, DC. Equally important was the on-line dialogues with dozens of youth groups in the DC area and youth activists from around the USA and Germany, Northern Ireland, Wales, Moscow, Sierra Leone, Bosnia and elsewhere, creating a broad discussion on the themes of the summit.

In May 1999, YLSN participated in a mentorship role with young organizers who planned a Youth Action Institute that brought over 300 teens from throughout Washington, DC together in a day of workshops and dialogues. The YLSN led a workshop for over 30 teens at the Institute on using video to tell your stories, and additionally videotaped and photographed the Institute.

DC Youth Voices: Around the Block and Around the World

YLSN involves local youth with national and international conferences, summits and events. A few highlights include:

Great Labor Arts Exchange: Every June, YLSN facilitates youth participation, workshops and performance at the Great Labor Arts Exchange, sponsored by Labor Heritage Foundation. Arts-Activists that work with working people’s culture and organizing gather for three days of song-swaps, artistic workshops and performance. If you are interested in attending, please contact us!

November 2005, YLSN coordinated local talent participation and an International Fair for People to People's Globaly Youth Forum in Arlington VA. Talent included opening ceremonies with Young Women's Drumming Empowerment Project, afternoon drumming by Tamara and Flaco, and closing night performances with a musical tribute to Rosa Parks, Frankojazz Family Jam and the Junkyard Gang Ska Band.

The International Fair included workshops in eight global regions: India, Pakistan/South Asia, Jamaica, Africa, Native American Indigenous, Arab, Europe and Mexico/America Latina.

In 2004, 19-year-old staff member Sheila Mirza provided the opening address at the United Nations International Day of Peace Parade held in Washington DC and broadcast in over 100 countries. Sheila was also a featured performer at Sisterfire DC: Women of Color Against Violence conference and Mobilizing America’s Youth rally on the National Mall, with YLSN volunteer Cherie Latson performing NYC and DC Sept 11 spoken word tributes.

In 2004, YLSN hosted the National Education Association Peace and Justice Caucus preconference entitled “Education not Incarceration,” and included youth from several DC organizations in creating proposals on the issue for the NEA convention. Participants then attended and recorded a speech by Angela Davis at the convention, where they received recognition and applause from the delegates.