Youth Talk Back

Twenty-four students from 16 schools across Hawaiʻi Island, Kauaʻi, and Oʻahu participated in YTB during the 2019-2020 school year. Throughout the course of the program, our facilitators and executive director led our youth participants through team-building activities, our Peace Accelerator framework, and consulted them on their action plans.

The Peace Accelerator framework consisted of a series of design-thinking-inspired activities to help youth to envision their beloved community, identify barriers to achieving this beloved community, brainstorm approaches to address these barriers, then design and launch their action plans. This process culminated in a public “shareout” where youth presented their action plans to the community.

Our youth participants launched seven action plans, including:
Peer Check-Ins
A student from Kapolei Charter designed and plans to implement a peer check-in system, where she and her peers would promote positive thinking, improve social interaction, and provide a listening ear to one another through weekly check-ins.

‘Auamo – Sharing the Burden
A Waiʻanae High student created “a studentled political advocacy group set on ensuring that nāʻōpio of the Waiʻanae moku feel motivated and empowered to fight for their community and fight for themselves all while instilling Hawaiian and socialist values.”

Mahalo to the Omidyar ʻOhana and the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation for the support!