Young People Build Relationships & Welcome Each Other

To kickoff the People’s Convention, youth participants first came together in a welcome room led by Davonte Johnson (Tae) from Detroit Action. Everyone shared what kept them going in the face of adversity and why they were inspired to be at the convention. Then the youth participated in a privilege walk, lifting up the voices of those less privileged by placing them in the middle, rather than the outskirts. They talked about how those most impacted by injustices should be the ones leading the fight for justice.  

Tae, reflected that, “the most impactful part of the convention for me was the welcome night and the welcome room. We were able to help facilitate breaking down the walls and barriers that people have just coming from around the country to get to know people, and being able to witness so much transparency and authenticity inside the room was beautiful… I wanted to leave people with a family atmosphere, and I think we accomplished that. It was like we all knew each other for years.” Read more on our blog.

Youth Lead A School-to-Prison Pipeline Panel at Local Progress Convening

Young people from Latinos Unidos Siempre (LUS), Youth Power Collective/OnePA, Make the Road Nevada (MRNV), and Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) led a panel during the Local Progress national convening about the school-to-prison-and-deportation pipelines. During the Local Progress panel, school board members from across the country asked questions regarding students' direct experiences and the policies that contributed to building the school-to-prison pipeline.

The panel members also had the opportunity to share the work that they are leading with their organizations to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, which was deeply inspiring to board members. Finally, the panel members offered recommendations for the ways they thought school board members could help change the school-to-prison pipeline in their own schools and communities. Read more on our blog.

Taking It To The Streets

On the second day of the conference the 1,500 attendees of the People’s Convention took to the streets of Detroit to speak out against cruel immigration policies, corporate greed, and the criminalization of communities of color. They also shared a vision for justice in housing, the climate, education, and health care.

YERR chant leaders curated and successfully lead chants during the rally concerning issues such as Black Lives Matter, facism in the U.S., and immigrant detainment centers. One of the leadership roles that young people took at the People’s Convention was being a part of the chant committee that created, organized, and led the chants for the entire delegation. Alyza Foster from OnePA shared, “it was moving getting to lead such a large crowd and I hadn’t led that big an action in Pittsburgh. When I started leading in Pittsburgh it was kinda scary, but in Detroit I had a realization that we have a voice for a reason, and we need to use to the best of our ability.” Young people took the lead with their megaphones and passionate voices, at the front of the march and dispersed throughout.

Blanca Rodriguez from Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) said that for her, “the most empowering part of the People’s Convention definitely has to be when we were rallying and protesting the systems of oppression in place right now and how we definitely took over the streets. We showed true, genuine, people power and we will continue to do so around the country and hopefully the world!” Read more on our blog.

Youth Speak Out

Young people were represented during all of the major moments throughout the convention including during the opening plenary, throughout the federal agenda ratification process, asking questions of leading political figures, at the rally, and more.

The convention kicked off with an opening plenary with leadership from our network. Cendi Trujillo Tena, the Organizing Director of Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) a youth of color organization in Milwaukee, joined the plenary to discuss the importance of building youth power across the network. She was joined by CPDA’s Co-Executive Directors Jen Epps-Addison, Ana Maria Archila, Working Families Party’s National Director, Maurice Mitchell, and Detroit Action’s Executive Director, Branden Snyder.

A central aspect of the People’s Convention was a collective process to review and ratify CPDA’s Federal Platform. Throughout the presentation of the federal platform members of the network spoke powerfully about the importance of fighting for the variety of issues covered on the platform. Gennesy Jimenez a youth member at Make the Road New Jersey, shared the powerful work she has been doing with other young people in NJ to fight for teen workers. She shared her own experiences as a teen worker and all the ways young people are fighting back. The federal platform passed the network unanimously. Read more on our blog.

Open Mic Showcases Participants' Talent & Our Community

Youth had the opportunity to showcase their many talents in dance, rap, poetry, singing and other engaging performances. This was a completely youth led space with youth MCs and performers. Many of the pieces performed relayed an activist sentiment, very fitting for the People’s Convention. Not only were the performances entertaining for the audience but many performers expressed an appreciation for being able to perform in such a welcoming and accepting environment filled with friends who could relate to their backgrounds.

Onyx Walker, a leader at the Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC) in New York, who was both an MC and performer during the event stated that  “it was one of the most supportive, creative spaces” he’d ever been in. Read more on our blog.

Youth Power Workshop Brings Together Over 200 Young People

As an end to the People's Convention youth track, the convention launched its very first youth workshop. This event not only gathered over 200 YERR members, but the programming goals were planned by youth! Jeremiah, a member of Make the Road New York, when referring to youth being able to come together in this way stated: “Bringing a bunch of people together for a cause is very powerful, it’s inspiring, it’s a beautiful sight.”

We began by analyzing three different forms of oppression in our communities: capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy. We discussed neoliberalism and how we can use people power to reverse the effects of it in our society.

With this grounding on the overarching issues that are detrimental to our communities, we moved into the second half of the workshop where we discussed ways to combat these issues. Read more on our blog.