Over the past few months, when it comes to social issues and the fight for justice, there is one group that is making its voice heard and its presence known more now than in recent years past—it’s today’s young people. They are rallying, marching and letting the older generation know that they are paying attention to what’s going on and that they are willing to be apart of the change.
Through a recently launched leadership program, Activism is Love, the grassroots initiative, the Alliance for Police Accountability, is helping several youth with a passion to better their community and humanity, as a whole, to cultivate and use their skills to be effective leaders for not only tomorrow, but today as well.
For 12 weeks, the initiative, funded by the Heinz Endowments, will take 10 youth, ages 16-26, on an intensive, hands on journey through the world of activism—they will learn what it means and what it takes to be one.
“I always tell young people, ‘you’re not our future leaders; you’re our leaders of today.’ Young people are looking to lead and once you put them in leadership position and empower them (they can blossom). We want to teach youth how to organize and mobilize in a strategic way that will be effective in getting them what they seek,” said Brandi Fisher, APA’s president. “This is the age group that we tend to see involved in crime and on the news. That’s why I’m very excited that these individuals find the program attractive and want to get involved.”
Fisher said the idea for the program came from her experiences in activism. She said through her encounters in the field, she feels many people have lost what activism is truly about. She said it has become more about competition than the cause.
“I wanted to remind youth that are coming up that activism is really driven by the love for ourselves, the love that we have for our communities, our environment and just humanity as a whole. As long as they keep that as the focal point, the driving force of their actions and their passions, then hopefully they won’t get caught up in the competition.”
The objective of the program is to help youth positively develop their love for activism as well as other important skills, such as public speaking, critical thinking, collaborating and organizing, which can be used throughout life. During each three-month long session, youth meet bi-weekly at We Repair the World, in East Liberty, to learn the historical context of activism and research other movements; collectively choose a social issue to address; and then create their own campaign and research it, market it, organize it and launch it.
Program Director Amber Owens said, “It’s necessary and very important that we’re building up future leaders. This is a group of people who have already made the determination for themselves that they want to be social agents of change.
“So to help mold them in a way that they’re able to take their ideas and make them tangible, it is an honor and privilege to be able to help them in that process.”
Along with building various skill sets, participants will also hold a debate, learn how to develop a website, spend the day with Mayor Bill Peduto and several city council members, and go on field trips. Recently, two youth volunteered to travel with Fisher to Chicago at the end of the month to participate in a national youth organizers training through the School of Unity and Leadership: S.O.U.L., which works to develop a new generation of organizers for a strong social justice movement.
The first session, which began in May and will run through July, has chosen to organize an antiviolence campaign and will host a “Stop the Violence” event on July 19 at Mellon Park. Each youth is responsible for planning and operating the event.
Monye Holiday, a 19-year-old student at North Carolina A&T State University, said she got involved in the program because of her passion for activism. While she is gaining knowledge on the ins and outs of activism, she said she’s also gaining skills to help her in the future.
“It’s helped me to learn things about myself that I didn’t know,” Holiday said.
When asked how the program disproves negative stereotypes about Black youth, especially males, participant Malik Barber, 18, said, “There are a bunch of Black males in this program, so that right there just shows that we can get up and do something; we’re not just laying around waiting for something to come to us, we’re going to it and getting it ourselves. We’re doing what we need to do to achieve.”
At the end of the year, youth from the summer, fall and spring sessions will come together and collaborate on one major issue. Upon completion of their session, participants will receive a stipend of an amount undisclosed to them.
“It is a great mix of young people who are working together from all different sides of the city. We have all this separation in our city,” Fisher said. “They have to do work outside of the class, so they’re forced to work together and talk to one another during the week. So they’re building relationships across the city, which is awesome.”
The next session is scheduled to begin in September and Fisher said she already has a waiting list.
(For more information about the Alliance for Police Accountability and its programs, call 412-256-8449 or email info@apapgh.org.)
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