This webinar was hosted by YouthREX in partnership with Leading in Colour.

HERE’S HOW THE HOSTS DESCRIBE THIS WEBINAR:

Youth organizing embraces both individual development and social change, but how can positive adult allyship meaningfully support youth-led movements?

Youth civic engagement goes beyond volunteerism and political participation, and young people are taking leadership roles to amplify their voices and the experiences and issues that are critical to their peers. Recognizing and supporting this work is essential to engagement that facilitates positive youth development and authentic youth participation and advocacy.

Together, we explored:

• why and how young people get involved in organizing;
• what issues are driving their current activism;
• the benefits of organizing for youth;
• the limitations and possibilities of youth engagement; and
• how adults can become allies in support of youth leadership.

This event was hosted and facilitated by Lidia Abraha, freelance journalist and YouthREX’s former Communications & Digital Engagement Associate, and Robin Tonbazian, YouthREX’s Research & Evaluation Associate. Our guests included:

• Habon Ali, Leader & Advocate
• Peter Cohen, Organizer, Climate Justice Durham
• Serisha Iyar, Founder & Executive Director, Leading in Colour
• Sarah Jama, Co-Founder, Disability Justice Network of Ontario
• Fae Johnstone, Executive Director, Wisdom2Action
• Caleb Yohannes, Founder & Director, 1919 Magazine

The event also featured a live spoken word performance by Rare The Poet.

Leading in Colour is a community organization exclusively by and for racialized youth under the age of 30. Our goal is to train young leaders in activism-based skills that they can use to advocate for themselves and their communities, through peer-to-peer knowledge sharing.