Get Involved: Youth Empowerment Action (YEA) Camp

Before we can share our own big news with you below: Wow. What a time in history this is.

Hundreds of thousands of people are courageously rising up in defense of black lives, and police are showing off their brutality in cities all across the country.

There is so much we can all do, and protesting is just one of them. If you’re new to activism and deep thinking about the impacts of racism, please:

• EDUCATE yourself, especially if you’re white. Get FAQs answered here. Then keep learning with this Anti-Racist Resource Guide and this great list of resources for every level of anti-racist education. Growing up in a racist society, we must be willing to do the work to unlearn the racism we have consciously or unconsciously learned.
• ADVOCATE for change, like doing any of these 75 things, even if you’re not white. And on what should be Breonna Taylor’s 27th birthday, demand #justiceforbreonna. You can also reach out to your local representatives and learn about efforts to defund the police.
• DONATE to provide support to so much good work. There are far too many groups to list.

Some organizations leading the way, each with very different approaches, that you could support and follow are Black Lives Matter, Campaign Zero, and Color of Change. You can also donate bail funds for protesters, to different folks’ memorial funds, or to mutual aid organizations in your city.

There’s too much we can and must do to not do anything.

Deep breath.

And now for our news.

We are holding our first ever Virtual YEA Camp this summer!

In the current climate, it feels tone-deaf to tell you about how fun and inspiring this program will be, but with everything going on in the world — including a global pandemic— we need to take care of ourselves and each other and build community while learning how to make a bigger difference in the world.

And the whole purpose of YEA Camp is to help people take action and make a bigger difference on the causes they care about.

Some of the things we’ll be doing at Virtual YEA Camp:

• Examining privilege and the way that affects how we see the world and approach our activism
• Exploring different social justice issues and the many things we can do to make a difference on them
• Doing activist challenges and projects together, from raising money to calling elected officials
• Building our confidence, unlearning limiting beliefs, and finding our voices to speak up for what we believe in
• Making new like-minded friends and doing fun self-care activities like arts activism, vegan cooking classes, and activist trivia.

We’ll be sharing a lot more about Virtual YEA Camp with you soon, including amazing guest speakers and details about each week, but in the meantime, please check out details on our website, join us, and let the activist-minded 10-17 year-olds in your life know that Virtual YEA Camp is here to help them make a bigger difference on the causes they care about.

It starts in just 5 weeks!

Please note that financial aid is available, and that nobody will be turned away for lack of funds!

Join us for Virtual YEA Camp!

It is so inspiring to see so many people rising up to bring about desperately needed change in our society.

As Nelson Mandela said, “it always seems impossible until it’s done.”

Thank you for all you do to make our world a better place!

Best,
Nora Kramer
YEA Camp director

P.S. Please take at least 1 action today to educate, advocate, or donate for change. There are so many resources above to help you!

And please let any 10-17 year-olds passionate about social justice issues know about Virtual YEA Camp. We start in just 5 weeks and can’t wait to meet them this summer!