Grounded in Youth - Working Alongside Youth Leaders

2022 GROUNDED Spearker Series: Grounded in Youth (recorded August 18, 2022)

Grounded in Youth: Creating a culture for youth to lead.

This conversation with youth leaders and staff from Young Women Empowered (Y-WE) explored how to create supportive and healthy spaces for youth leadership and development — and youth ownership of transformative organizing work.

Watch the recording to hear directly from youth on what they need to be supported in leading on their vision for a different and more just world.

Panelists from Young Women Empowered (Y-WE):

Athena is eighteen years old and has been involved with Young Women Empowered since she was thirteen, but has been a youth activist since she was just nine years old. She got started in the climate movement back in fourth grade and has participated in many actions such as a lawsuit against the Washington State government, marches, rallies, and other campaigns. She’s been taking a bit of a break from that work since 2020, however, to focus on bettering herself as a person and figuring out the best way to lead her community as a young person. Currently, she works as a challenge course facilitator at Camp Long and is extremely passionate about the Y-WE community and helping its members grow alongside her.” Ahshah is eighteen years old and has been involved in Young Women Empowered for two years. As she’s very adamant on exploring the variety of YWE programs, she’s taken a deep commitment to YWE Grow and the Youth Leadership Council. Through her time at YWE , she has developed a deep understanding of the importance of food sovereignty by completing 2 internships at YWE grow and being apart of 3 volunteer programs at Marra Farm. In addition, the youth leadership council and other leadership/creative workshops have helped her find her voice and passion in community. In her free time she enjoys playing volleyball, reading and spending quality time with friends and family. As she will be a freshman at the University of Washington this upcoming fall, she is excited to utilize her skills and passions she obtained during YWE in and out the classroom.

Mary is a student in the University of Washington’s Department of Anthropology. She brings a love of and passion for community health and healing, social justice, spirituality, belonging, and sustainability. No stranger to public speaking or activism, she has worked in her community as a youth leader, on sustainability and gardening efforts, in unhoused outreach, and as an advocator for domestic workers rights. Most recently she was one half of the dynamic duo that created “Blackout Healing” to better serve the Black community of Seattle by offering life affirming events in a time when the hyper-visibility viral Black Death and racial uprising has permeated the minds and hearts of Black people everywhere. In all endeavors, Mary brings a passion for people, service, and a strong inclination toward experiential learning.