YSJT 2007

Held in New Orleans in February 2007, the Youth Social Justice Training (YSJT) 2007 was a great success!
Although there were only about 20 participants total, there was a great sense of community, great discussions, workshops, Anti-racism/Anti-Oppression trainings, media and lobbying skills training, worships, and Identity groups. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee partnered with the Youth Office to put on this annual event, and some local activists were brought in to talk to the participants, including ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now - http://www.acorn.org/ ) and ReThink (middle school kids working to reform New Orleans public schools). We also watched the 4-part documentary about Hurricane Katrina "When the Levees Broke" during the conference, which was very powerful.
We also did an action project, where we helped to gut a couple of buildings and worked on a garden, all in the Lower 9th Ward (one of the hardest-hit areas of the city), where there is going to be a tool-lending library and a information a center about building more sustainable and eco-friendly homes cheaply for residents returning to re-build (through re-using materials in their old homes that were in good shape, etc).

Does anyone who was there want to say anything else about the YSJT?

Anyways, it was a blast, and I hope many of you will come to the next YSJT. Most of the details about the next YSJT are still up in the air, but I'll let you know when I know more.

~Chris