We adapted.
2020 Online + Virtual
Youth Environmental Justice Organizing
Throughout O’ahu, there is a growing network of passionate high school and college-aged young people working to fight for an equitable and just future. We work closely with our partner organizations to train, empower, and organize youth to run effective campaigns and develop leaders for the environmental and climate justice movement.
Now, in the COVID-19 era, “organizing” (like most things) has been flipped upside down. The youth were quick to adapt, employing innovative and eye catching tools and technology to organize for change.
Check out some of the youth’s initiatives below:
Change in action…
Hoʻohuli Youth-
Over the past several months, many youth throughout Oʻahu have gathered to discuss issues that matter to them. In April, our youth leaders held forums in council districts with their peers with a focus on equity in communities. They then held research-a-thon to bring together issues and candidates views through a web-based voter guide. Students from 7th grade to college came together from across diverse communities to speak out and share their vision. The guide is to increase voter turnout and voting with values.
They have created a web-based voter guide and resource for youth activism. The goal for the site is to make it a resource for civic engagement, activism, and long term accountability for decision-makers. It’s name reflects the hope for its impact- to huli the system -- To turn, change, affect, overturn, convert, and reform.
Flip the Script: Inclusive Justice
In response to the inspiring work of the Black Lives Matter movement’s growing activism, especially among youth, we created a space to bring Oʻahu youth and community leaders to discuss the histories and experiences of systemic racism, white supremacy, and colonialism in Hawaiʻi. It is a critical space where youth connect racial justice and economic justice to the issues they care about.
We know this is just a starting point, but it is an important pathway to better understand the full scope of equity issues for community-resilience advocacy.
EJ Reels Camp for Girls 2020
The Reel Camps for Girls from Hawaiʻi Women in Filmmaking “is a creative space where girls unleash their creativity, build confidence, and initiate a long-term individual transformational journey from passive recipients, to active makers of their own stories.”
We participated in a weeklong camp to discuss local and global environmental injustices, decolonization frameworks, systemic change, and circular economies. Everyday the girls were exposed to different issues to inspire their content and bring their passions alive through filmmaking mentorship. One thing was clear in this camp, youth care deeply about their future and solutions to protect our collective wellbeing. Follow their day by day accounts of the camp here.
Community Change Forums
Conversations are a catalyst for change. The Community Change Forums are a space for youth to listen and learn from one another on issues they care about. At the beginning of every session we discuss the meanings of justice, equity, and liberation.
The goal is to build a baseline of understanding of what it means to be an organizer in your community—taking action with friends and family to change your school, campus, or city and leads to an opportunity to co-create solutions, whether it be through institutional change and/or policy advocacy.
In April, youth leaders hosted virtual Community Change Forums with their peers to co-create a vision for climate resilience, equity and sustainability. To commemorate the experience and honor Earth Day, we also held a special forum open to all ages with over 70 participants discussing a community and environment focused COVID-19 recovery.
Virtual EJ Tours
Seeing is believing. This initiative is a way to uplift the people and places behind the issue. In partnership with Hawaiʻi Women in Filmmaking, participants get training in filmmaking and environmental justice advocacy.
This initiative is an adaption from environmental justice tours that have historically been done in and with community. But we are living in a digital world and adapting more and more each day.
Weekly Check-Ins
Our Advocacy Support Team cares about bold youth leadership. Check-ins are focused on strategizing campaigns, event planning, peer to peer coaching, and mentoring from field professionals.
These check-ins are most importantly about relationship building. Each week we gather to hone our participant’s organizing skills, grow their confidence as leaders, and clarify their vision for justice.