Youth and Young Women's Program

In May of 2012, Springtide Resources hired a consultant to do a series of strategic planning sessions with staff. The Young Women's Program was one of the focus areas of these sessions. From the findings of these sessions, potential new program activities and strategic directions were identified and changes were made accordingly. The program was changed from a full-time summer mentorship position for a young woman under 25 to a part-time year round program coordination position for a young woman under 30. The program coordinator receives mentorship and training from staff, as well as provides that to younger program participants and volunteers. She has worked to bring in new sources of funding to expand the program and worked with other youth to design and implement the violence prevention programming they collectively identified as needed. The program changes have been hugely successful, with the program coordinator working three days a week and engaging a team of youth Peer Educators in developing and delivering innovative, year-round anti-violence, anti-oppressive programming. Having so many youth voices and ideas in the office has brought new energy and direction to the other programs as well. We are still in the early stages of this shift, but are feeling very optimistic about it.

The Youth and Young Women's Program addresses the need for leadership, mentorship, and skills development opportunities for marginalized youth and young women such that they may better understand and address the violence and barriers they (and their peers and communities) experience in their lives. We believe that individuals and communities are the experts on their own experiences and therefore should be the driving forces behind designing and implementing the positive-change they want to see in their lives. In our experience, ageist attitudes often result in youth not being given adequate support and opportunities to influence and shape violence-prevention and anti-oppression efforts in meaningful ways. We see a strong need for greater youth leadership in these areas, particularly by youth who understand first-hand how layered and complex these issues are, and work to support that leadership in our participants.