yoUNIte logo and objectives

This is what I have been working on for the last few days. Today I had a meeting with the local Resource Centre whose board I just happen to sit on, they agreed to serve as an interim board of directors while I start meeting with Island youth to find and elect a youth board. It feels good to get the ball rolling and begin to put into practive the ideas and knowledge I have been accumulating. For those with o clue what youth empowerment is I will include a definition here: Youth empowerment is an attitudinal, structural, and cultural process whereby young people gain the ability, authority, and agency to make decisions and implement change in their own lives and the lives of other people, including youth and adults. -Adam Fletcher, Freechild Project. If you have not heard of the freechild project I suggest you haul yourself over there for a much needed crash course in youth liberation while I haul myself off to bed.

The futures we inherit are not of our own making, but the futures we create for generations of young people who follow us arise out of our ability to imagine a better world, recognize our responsibility to others, and define the success of a society to the degree that it can address the needs of coming generations to live in a world in which the obligations of a global democracy and individual responsibility mutually inform each other.
-Henry Giroux, Translating the Future and the Promise of Democracy

Objectives

Empower Upper North Island youth as leaders and peacemakers through creativity, education, peer support and hands on community involvement.
Supply youth with the skills needed to navigate a rapidly changing world and the confidence to achieve their dreams.
Create opportunities for conservation and cooperation in the North Island region.
Provide rural youth with access to fine and performing arts, learning, mentorship, and skill building opportunities with the creation of an annual full summer leadership program and year round workshops and events.
Participate in building inclusive youth friendly communities that celebrate diversity.
Engage youth in preserving and valuing local and traditional knowledge.
Invest in youth as leaders and problem solvers.
Organize, support and encourage youth driven initiatives and events.
Unite youth across boundaries to find solutions to common problems.