Beyond Tokenism: Youth Leadership in the Food

Justice Movement

Regional Environmental Council (R.E.C.)Worcester, MA

www.recworcester.org508-799-9139

Let’s break that ice!

What is the R.E.C.?• Founded in 1971• Grassroots

environmental justice non-profit organization dedicated to building healthy, sustainable and just communities in Worcester.

• Two major programs: Environmental Health and Justice and Food Justice

Where are we?• Located in: – Worcester, MA– 45 miles west of

Boston– 4 hour drive from

New York City– Second Largest city

in New England– Home to  181,045 

people!!!We are here!!

• Over 36% of Worcester residents live below 200% of the poverty level, 50% higher than the statewide average

• 63% of Worcester Public School students are low income versus the statewide average of 28.9%

• In the 14 lowest income Worcester census tracts, 1 child in 3 lives in a family unable to meet basic needs for food. 1 in 5 children under the age of 12 is hungry or at risk for hunger.

• In 2008 Worcester Food Pantries and Soup Kitchens served over 50,000 people and 1,000,000 meals.

• The amount of hungry people in Central Massachusetts has risen 40% over 5 years.

What is R.E.C.’s Food Justice Program?

• Mission: Increasing accessibility to healthy food through location, affordability and empowerment

• Cornerstones: youth employment, self-sustainability/ entrepreneurship and grassroots organizing

Current Projects:YouthGROWUGROW Community Gardens NetworkREC Community Farmers MarketsShare Our Strength’s Cooking Matters™

What is YouthGROW?• Urban agriculture program• Youth employment• Leadership and Community

Organizing Curriculums• Two farm campuses in low income

neighborhoods• Year Round Programming• 50 teenagers

Fall• Monthly unpaid

retreats: recreational and

educational•Fall internships available

in College Access,

Cooperative Business, Farm Work, and School

Gardens. •Stipend offered.

Winter• Retreats,

Internships, and Volunteer

Opportunities still offered

• Strategic Program Visioning

for next season

SpringJunior Staff are hired.

They hire Youth Leaders and

then both groups hire Youth Mentors and

new core youth.

Summer•6 week urban farming

summer program•8 hour days, 3 days a

week•Wednesday field trips

to other farm sites•Hourly pay through

state funding

Team Projects

Food Justice

Support

Internships

Program Visioning

& Advising

Project Focuses

Beyond Tokenism: YouthGROW’s Youth Leadership Development Model

• Youth Leadership Track

• Consensus based decision making

Youth Leadership Track21 Core Youth – 7 Youth Leaders – 4 Junior Staff

Core Youth• After 1 year as a core participant in summer farming and year

round after school program core youth can qualify through increased year round requirements of community service, retreat attendance and internships to apply to be a youth leader

Youth Leader• Increased after school paid work through spring to plan specific

of summer program and engage in a leadership curriculumJunior Staff• 2 Assistant Farm Managers and 2 Assistant Youth Coordinators

work year round on specific agriculture and administrative program support

Application and training support for youth through leadership track

ConsensusConsensus based decision making method is utilized for all major program decisions including :

• program structure development• seasonal planning• policy including behavior contract

development• disciplinary issues

We train in consensus tools and concepts with youth leaders and large group discussions. We practice examples for small issues.

Choice

Assign Roles

Establish/Review Ground rules

Facilitated Dialogue

Proposals

BlocksCreative Solutions

CONSENSUS!

Why Consensus?

Voting

A dictatorship

Easy

Fast

Consensus is NOT

Consensus and Youth Leadership in Practice;

Case Studies

Case Study 1Jonathan is a popular YouthGROWer that has been apart of the program for two years. He began his second year as a youth leader, and was recently promoted to Assistant Farm Manager. He was chosen to represent YouthGROW with three of his peers at a national food justice conference out of state. At the beginning of the summer season, each YouthGROWer is asked to sign and agree to a group generated agreement. Additionally, each conference participant was asked to sign a contract specific to the conference rules and regulations. On the third day of the conference, the hall monitor on Jonathan’s floor smelled marijuana coming from the room Jonathan shared with Calvin, an adult Youth Mentor. When confronted by program and conference staff, both Jonthan and Calvin denied that they were smoking. As a result of the incidence the entire group was asked to leave immediately. The group decided to bring the issue back home to the larger group, in order to hold a council meeting to come to consensus on the issue.

QuestionsHow do you think the use of consensus would be beneficial in this case?Can you identify any influence that identity, or biases that may affect individual perspectives?

Case Study 2

Tiana, a youth leader been consistently late to planning meetings in the preseason spring term in violation of the program behavior contract. A staff member has given her a warning about her tardiness. After an additional late arrival a staff member pulls her aside and ask her why she’s been showing up so late. Tiana shares that her 1 year old child is dropped off from daycare at her program housing at 3 when she gets home from high school. She then has to take the bus to drop off her son at the fathers house and then walk to the meeting. After two more late instances, other youth in the prgram begin to show up late thinking it is acceptable. The staff member decides to call a council meeting to address the issue.

Questions

How do you think the use of consensus would be beneficial in this case?

Can you identify any influence that identity, or biases that may affect individual perspectives?

Questions?