A new cohort will be starting in September 2024! Here is the application form for youths; deadline is Sunday, July 28, 2024.
What is Community-Supported Youth Organizing?
Community-Supported Youth Organizing is an experimental new model for grassroots organizing, loosely inspired by Community Supported Agriculture.
Each month, a circle of community members make small donations which we pool together. That money will be used to pay a small team of youth organizers who work to make connections, develop their skills, and build the overall activist capacity of our community.
Community-Supported Youth Organizing is a simple and quick way to:
- support youth activists and intergenerational organizing;
- help train new and young people in important community skills;
- aid the recovery of activist communities in our area post-pandemic; and
- connect different area groups to build stronger movements for justice.
Why do we need it?
A young activist in our area recently visited the meetings of three different climate justice groups in Kingston/Katarokwi – only to find that none of the groups was aware of the existence of the others.
Isolation and fragmentation are always dangerous to activist movements, but the pandemic has made the situation much worse.
Being unable to meet and organize face-to-face for so long has chipped away at our organizing capacity. Constant emergencies have sapped our energy and well-being.
Being forced to rely increasingly on social media to connect has put our movements at the mercy of opaque, unaccountable algorithms and anti-democratic billionaires.
The pandemic has made it harder for activists to connect with new people, to train new organizers, and to welcome young activists.
At the same time, those in power have used the pandemic as an excuse to go on the offensive, as the rich grow even richer.
We need to reconnect activist groups that have become isolated from one another. We need to strengthen intergenerational and intersectional movements. And we need to welcome and train the young organizers who are essential to our long-term success.
Hence, the need for Community-Supported Youth Organizing.
How long is the program?
Currently, youth are asked to make an 8-month commitment. For this next group, that means September 2024 to April 2025.
The term could change for future cohorts. We also welcome youth to keep participating after this term, but we want to be able to offer a stipend to new organizers.
How long has this program been operating?
It’s quite new! Our first cohort of three young organizers started in January 2024 as part of a pilot project. You can read about some of what those organizers have been going at a website they created, ygksolidarity.org.
We’re now inviting young people to apply to be part of the second cohort, which will run from September 2024 to April 2025. The exact size of this cohort will depend on community donations, but we are hoping to expand it to five youth.
How does it work? What do the youth organizers actually do?
Each month, a circle of supporters contributes a small amount of money to a pool. That money is used to pay honoraria for a group of young organizers. They’ll work on different capacity-building projects identified with help from a planning team.
Each month, the young organizers will share a brief report with all of the supporters about what they accomplished, things that they learned, and their next steps.
In our pilot project, a key goal of the youth was to conduct a community movement inventory. In other words, organizers:
- Reached out to different groups and organizations in the Kingston/Katarokwi area to understand what issues they are working on.
- Built on our recent capacity-building survey to ask those groups some key questions like:
- What is your group’s objective?
- Who are your constituents or core demographics?
- What is the biggest challenge for your group right now?
- What are your biggest wins to date?
- What do you need most to be more effective at what you do?
- How do you want to support or collaborate with other groups?
This allowed them to create a few different deliverables for that first phase, including:
- an inventory or map of the active groups in our area,
- an open “access hub” so that young and new activists (and perhaps even members of the media) can find groups that they want to connect with, and
- an analysis of the strengths and challenges that different groups face, giving us a clearer understanding of what capacity-building support is needed.
You can view some of their results here: ygksolidarity.org.
This work has also clarified gaps and opportunities for movement-building in our area. Future priorities will emerge out of a dialogue among the youth organizers, the planning team, supporters like you, and the broader community.
The youths in each cohort work, with guidance, to respond to the community needs of the moment. Current youth have identified some priorities that the next cohort might want to pursue, including:
- more intersectional and intergenerational gatherings and activities,
- continued work to build awareness of, and connections between, different activist groups in Kingston,
- training and skill-building opportunities and workshops, and
- fun cultural activities like film screenings.
Youths also have opportunities to train and practice key skills, including:
- talking to strangers about important social issues,
- good group dynamics and participatory decision-making,
- public speaking and delegations, and
- planning actions and thinking strategically.
Our goal will be to keep youth organizers involved over time, building their networks and capacity so that they can be effective change-makers wherever they end up.
Do youth get paid?
Youth have the option to receive a stipend! This can be up to $20 / hour for 20 hours of work and training each month, for a maximum stipend of $400 each month.
We also want to offer the young organizers a living wage, both for overall fairness and to show that the community values this kind of work.
This will be paid as an honorarium, however, not as a wage. That means there will not be an employment relationship, and we won’t deduct taxes, etc.
In the pilot project, every youth received that full stipend. However, we recognize that different people have economic needs, and that not everyone requires a stipend. We may also be able to include more participants if not everyone requests a full stipend.
In this cohort’s application, youth will have to option of requesting the specific stipend amount that meets their needs.
Who is responsible for oversight?
Experienced area organizers will be responsible for overseeing the project and offering guidance and support to the youth organizers. This will be our “coordinating committee,” which is ultimately responsible for making sure the money is spent in a way that matches our goals, and for making sure that the youth organizers have a good and enriching experience.
Who can apply?
We’re looking for young people between the ages of 16 and 22, who will live in the Kingston area between September 2024 and April 2025.
This will involve looking for young people who can work well together and who already have some of the skills they need to succeed.
What do participating youth say about the program?
Abby says: “Community supported youth organizing has provided me with opportunities, mentorships, and relationships that have enormously helped me build my skills and experience as an activist.
“One of the things I’ve cherished most from this project is the relationships I’ve built with Hazel and Abbie, with experienced activist mentors, with different activist communities, and with various activist groups. I have been so inspired by Abbie and Hazel’s passion and commitment to standing up for what’s right and by Aric and other mentors in this project with their years of experience, strategy, encouragement, and compassion. Interviewing such a wide variety of activist groups has widened my circle of connections, opportunities, and support and broadened my education on various issues and strategies to fight back against them.
“Abbie, Hazel, and I have learned so much from each other, and have taken inspiration from each other’s passions to fight together in actions we might not have previously attended. The passionate support from my community for youth activism has given me the experience and confidence I need to continue to fight against injustice for as long as it exists.”
Hazel says: “Fighting back has never been easy. It takes time, effort, and a whole lot of cooperation; but while change is indeed hard, what’s more important to remember is that it is possible. This power of possibility is the exact torch Community-Supported Youth Organizing bears. It shows us that with the community’s support, youth voices can create concrete and lasting change; they can build new foundations, pull apart rotting ones, and that (in my opinion) is at the core of CSYO. It’s a space for us to come together as a community, to not just take reactive measures to the many crises at hand, but to begin to lay the groundwork for building a better, more equitable, more welcoming world.”
How can I support this as a community member?
If this seems exciting to you, we hope that you’ll pitch in to support this project with a monthly amount of $10, $25, or $50. (Or more, if you’re feeling generous!)
We’re asking people to commit initially to eight months of contributions, to make sure we have the continuity to make things work. This contribution can be made as a lump sum, and we have a tax-deductible option. To make a pledge, just send a note to Aric.McBay@chco.ca saying how much you’d like to pledge per month.
Once the project begins, you’ll get a monthly report from the youth about what’s going on, what they’re learning, and what they’re working on.
Community-Supported Youth Organizing is a new approach that we’ve cooked up in the Kingston/Katarokwi area to suit our local needs. If you decide to support it, you can be an early member of an innovative new organizing approach.
We’re pretty excited about it, and we hope you’ll join!
If you have any questions, please send a note to Aric.McBay@chco.ca.