{"id":23872,"date":"2020-12-15T17:09:15","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T17:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/?p=23872"},"modified":"2020-12-15T17:09:15","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T17:09:15","slug":"partnering-for-social-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Partnering for social justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Dana Rieck<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Black Lives Matter protesters took to the streets across the country after the death of George Floyd, the American Youth Foundation wanted to offer youth a space to connect with their values and to be voices for positive change in their communities.<\/p>\n

The AYF acknowledged that it was not an expert in anti-racism work and wanted to work with an
\norganization to provide resources to its community during a time that, for many, is a reckoning of racism and racial inequity in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were already doing virtual programming. We had already been talking about if we wanted to be addressing the issues that are really confronting our young people right now?\u201d said Lauren Abrami, AYF Director of Program Development. \u201cAnd how do we do that in a virtual setting?\u201d<\/p>\n

Longtime partner Kids4Peace Boston reached out to the AYF to offer online anti-racist training for preteens and teens. K4PB ran this workshop for middle school and high school students from Merrowvista and Miniwanca; about 60 AYF kids participated in late July and early August. The organizations have been partners for almost 10 years, as K4PB brings groups of their participants to Merrowvista each year for youth leadership development retreats. K4PB\u2019s main focus is bringing together children from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths to create leaders focused on fostering peace and understanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our program and Kids4Peace Boston, we talk about all kinds of issues that our communities are facing, and in particular, all kinds of divisions that exist between groups of people, and we often talk about bridging divides between different groups,\u201d said Ati Waldman, Kids4Peace Boston Program Director.<\/p>\n

Abrami said the core missions of both organizations are well aligned. \u201cKids4Peace Boston is really in line with the AYF mission and values of teaching kids to understand each other\u2019s differences,\u201d she said. \u201cReally encouraging kids to appreciate one another and open that area of empathy, conversation, and communication among young people, and then really using their voices for good in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walden and Megan Hopkins, K4PB Assistant Program Director and Camp Director, developed the program with a shared goal of decentering their own voices and using resources created by Black experts at the forefront of anti-racist work, such as Ibram X. Kendi. Approximately 150 kids have taken the course to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that kids should expect to be challenged, to be asked to have some hard conversations and to think about the world around them in ways that they may or may not have already been thinking about,\u201d Waldman said.<\/p>\n

Hopkins said it was important to provide an understanding of the history of racism in the U.S. and explain concepts like systemic racism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a wound that has been festering in our society, and this process is really us cleaning out that wound and making sure that we, as a society, can heal going forward,\u201d Hopkins said. \u201cThis process isn’t about maligning a particular group, placing blame, things like that. The process is really about understanding that, although those of us who benefit from white privilege are not responsible for what people have done before us or things that are beyond our control, we are benefiting from those past actions, and we should take responsibility for being part of the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twelve-year-old Kit Hagenbuch is a seventh grader who attended the anti-racism workshop in July. She has attended Merrowvista for four years, and said she signed up for the training because she wasn\u2019t allowed to attend protests during the pandemic and wanted to learn more about how to be effective ally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a great space to ask questions if you want to do things, and it’s great for people who already know about things,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it also covers a lot of the earlier topics and more basic stuff, if you’re new to it, and it encourages people to get out and do things or have conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article first appeared in the 2020 Founder Fire.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Dana Rieck As Black Lives Matter protesters took to the streets across the country after the death of George Floyd, the American Youth Foundation wanted to offer youth a space to connect with their values and to be voices for positive change in their communities. The AYF acknowledged that it was not an expert in anti-racism work and wanted … <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[85],"class_list":["post-23872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-updates","tag-updates"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPartnering for social justice - American Youth Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Partnering for social justice. Longtime partner Kids4Peace Boston reached out to the AYF to offer online anti-racist training for preteens and teens.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Partnering for social justice - American Youth Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Partnering for social justice. Longtime partner Kids4Peace Boston reached out to the AYF to offer online anti-racist training for preteens and teens.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Youth Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/americanyouthfoundation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-15T17:09:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DSC_0258_cc-scaled-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Catherine Klene\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Catherine Klene\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Catherine Klene\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed76aecb494e23494e2fb12eebc3126e\"},\"headline\":\"Partnering for social justice\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-15T17:09:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/\"},\"wordCount\":682,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DSC_0258_cc-scaled-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Updates\"],\"articleSection\":[\"General Updates\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/\",\"name\":\"Partnering for social justice - American Youth Foundation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DSC_0258_cc-scaled-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-15T17:09:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"Partnering for social justice. Longtime partner Kids4Peace Boston reached out to the AYF to offer online anti-racist training for preteens and teens.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DSC_0258_cc-scaled-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DSC_0258_cc-scaled-1.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"six kids hugging at miniwanca\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Partnering for social justice\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/\",\"name\":\"American Youth Foundation\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Youth Foundation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AYF-Transparent-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AYF-Transparent-Logo.png\",\"width\":800,\"height\":744,\"caption\":\"American Youth Foundation\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/americanyouthfoundation\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed76aecb494e23494e2fb12eebc3126e\",\"name\":\"Catherine Klene\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/740d758e572a396bc11b9bbc9a7af8f4c55ff4d9891f9b82449ac49163e2b05b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/740d758e572a396bc11b9bbc9a7af8f4c55ff4d9891f9b82449ac49163e2b05b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Catherine Klene\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/ayf.com\/author\/catherine\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Partnering for social justice - American Youth Foundation","description":"Partnering for social justice. Longtime partner Kids4Peace Boston reached out to the AYF to offer online anti-racist training for preteens and teens.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Partnering for social justice - American Youth Foundation","og_description":"Partnering for social justice. Longtime partner Kids4Peace Boston reached out to the AYF to offer online anti-racist training for preteens and teens.","og_url":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/","og_site_name":"American Youth Foundation","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/americanyouthfoundation\/","article_published_time":"2020-12-15T17:09:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DSC_0258_cc-scaled-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Catherine Klene","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Catherine Klene","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/"},"author":{"name":"Catherine Klene","@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed76aecb494e23494e2fb12eebc3126e"},"headline":"Partnering for social justice","datePublished":"2020-12-15T17:09:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/"},"wordCount":682,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DSC_0258_cc-scaled-1.jpg","keywords":["Updates"],"articleSection":["General Updates"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/","url":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/","name":"Partnering for social justice - American Youth Foundation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DSC_0258_cc-scaled-1.jpg","datePublished":"2020-12-15T17:09:15+00:00","description":"Partnering for social justice. Longtime partner Kids4Peace Boston reached out to the AYF to offer online anti-racist training for preteens and teens.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DSC_0258_cc-scaled-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DSC_0258_cc-scaled-1.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"six kids hugging at miniwanca"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/partnering-for-social-justice\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Partnering for social justice"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/","name":"American Youth Foundation","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#organization","name":"American Youth Foundation","url":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AYF-Transparent-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AYF-Transparent-Logo.png","width":800,"height":744,"caption":"American Youth Foundation"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/americanyouthfoundation\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ed76aecb494e23494e2fb12eebc3126e","name":"Catherine Klene","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/740d758e572a396bc11b9bbc9a7af8f4c55ff4d9891f9b82449ac49163e2b05b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/740d758e572a396bc11b9bbc9a7af8f4c55ff4d9891f9b82449ac49163e2b05b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Catherine Klene"},"url":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/author\/catherine\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}