Engaging Black Youth (talking notes)
When
I sat to put my talking notes together, I was very challenged to figure out
exactly what I would say to you.
After all, how hard can it be to engage youth in general and black youth
specifically? It’s easy for me, so
what’s the problem?
First,
I have had almost 45 years of study about this, 20+ years of which I have been
locked in a laboratory with daily intense study of the beast we speak of – the
young adult and the teenager. I
work with youth but I study black youth with a special focus on the connection
between strong cultural ties and academic confidence.
So,
perhaps I have an unfair advantage...
Someone
might say that and that person may unfortunately be one of those adults who
forgot that you can’t get to YOU without going through YOUth and I mean that
literally and figuratively.
I
know THIS because by working with black youth, I found ME! I found my true calling in this world
amidst the crazy, the chaos, the foolishness and the insane, I found ME and I’m
blessed everyday I actively work to work myself out of a job.
That’s
right! Work myself out of a job! If I believe anything I say about the
power that comes from engaged, self-actualized youth in a way that helps them
empower themselves, then I should be shortly out of a job and happy to sit back
and watch as they become the caretakers of the worlds they create.
If
I’m not working to do that then I’m full of crap and I’m pimping youth just
like a lot of other things in their day and I should not be trusted to be my
word about anything I say therefore why engaging youth may be challenging.
Adults
think like adults and would be much better served to return to the head space we
had before we became fearful and cynical about the possibilities of the world –
innocent and naïve are powerful tools and a beautiful space for community
innovation. It prevents you from
seeing the barriers that say you CAN NOT do something. Possibility lives in that space. One of our youth leaders use to
describe it like a ball of twine.
When the energy was positive, she would say her ball of twine was
growing. As soon as doubt or
negativity entered her consciousness, the ball of twine would begin to
unravel. How many times, as
adults, do we allow our ball of twine to unravel because we’re afraid we can
actually get from life the things we claim we want?
That’s
also, interestly, why teenagers and young adults need Adults – to provide them
the safe space to be their visions fulfilled while holding the space –
literally and figuratively – until they have ALL their strength to stand up
with that vision in the world for real.
I
think my mother would say I was a different kind of kid. I was certainly full of energy and I
was very observant. I almost never
missed something. It also meant
that I noticed easily when things were foolish to the point I frequently needed
corporal punishment in order for me to not say out loud what I noticed. She would also certainly say that I was
always laughing and for sure mischievous. For
sure though the one she would have to be forced to admit, is that I’ve never
been very good with rules. She
might have accidently nurtured my natural sense of curiosity. Although I may not have read a certain
kind of book cover to cover until I was in my 20s, every year for Christmas, my
parents would be give me two books – a book of facts and a Guinness Book of
Records. I was in my glory driving
people crazy with loads of useless information you would only need to know if
you were going on Jeopardy.
As
a result, I am the perfect collision of the time in history I was born and the
place my parents were in their lives when I came around – young, recently
married, community activists, new Canadians who came as students originally and
entering into their adult public lives.
My
engagement in and with the youth IN me allows for me to say that “I AM AN
ACTIVIST AND ADVOCATE HOLDING THE SPACE FOR YOUNG ADULTS TO CREATE THE WORLD
THEY WANT TO LIVE IN.”
I
want to live in that kind of world and that’s why I/WE do what we do….
What
do We DO?
I’m
always challenged by this question too.
Whenever we are outside of black communities and/or our organization is
announced, What do you do? is frequently the first question asked. What does 3Dreads and a Baldhead
do? The answer is unofficially
ANYTHING OUR PASSIONS GUIDE US TO DO but officially is says that 3Dreads and a Baldhead provides opportunities for people in black
communities to transform their lives by maximizing their physical, mental,
spiritual, and economic potential.
I
am the Founder and Opportunities Broker of 3Dreads and a Baldhead. We give nothing to anyone. We are each a representation of the
opportunity available when you do the daily work that it takes to be your
vision fulfilled. The things we
“DO” are just a manifestation of that overstanding. The DOING/BEING/LIVING of the vision creates things:
Ottawa Phoenix Basketball – provides an opportunity to experience that vision through
pressures of being in a competitive athletic program. In this context,
excellence includes commitment to the physical and emotional well-being, and
social development of student-athletes as well as to the development of their
sense of citizenship, dedication to sportsmanship and fair play, the
development of individual and team skills, the exertion of best effort, the
will to win, and the general conduct that brings credit to the program and is a
source of pride and enthusiasm for all members of the community.
The Be More Leadership
Academy -- is a youth friendly space established for black
youth by black youth to support the growth and development of their leadership
capacity, personal development, mentoring and networking skills. The
leadership body of the Be More Academy is also 'response-able'
for the facilitation and organization of the annual Black Youth Conference Day.
The Black Youth Conference -- is an annual event that gathers black youth together in order to engage them in a conversation, empowering them to be active participants in the discovery, manifestation, and articulation of their visions for themselves, Black communities, and the World.
BlackYouthaPalooza –
is a unique networking event and the 2nd day of the Black
Youth Conference. The Be More
Academy is showcased giving communities an opportunity to meet some of
community’s best and brightest young adults: Art, academics, athletics,
entertainment, poetry, business, ideas, possibility, and potential are just a
few of the areas of passion for this unique group of young, gifted and black
movers and shakers.
The recently launched Men’s and Women’s Programs:
The Women’s
Program --
A year long intergenerational conversation for women to gather
in a holistic space of healing to dialog, clear, share life, exchange their
passions and create vision; while developing the tools to capture the essence
of who we are in relationship to self in being our vision fulfilled.
The Men’s Barbershop Conversation
– A year long intergenerational conversation for
men to engage in ongoing dialog, share life, exchange their passions and
create vision; while developing the tools to capture the essence of who you are
in relationship to self in being the physical, mental and spiritual
self-expression of all that is powerful and abundant in being your vision
fulfilled.
Current
Community Partnerships include:
