February 2022
Youth Cohort Updates:
MY VOYCE:
The My VOYCE summer program alumni have begun gathering bi-monthly as co-designers to review, revise, update, and provide feedback about the My VOYCE curriculum. Youth, led by an emerging Project VOYCE youth leader and facilitator, Skupe, are examining previous activities and offerings to increase opportunities for young people to learn about identity in general and their own cultural identities specifically. Towards this effort, the youth co-designers have been accessing the power of counter storytelling, mainly through analyzing film, music, and social media tools. The goal is to provide strengthened frameworks for other young people who participate in Project VOYCE programs to explore, understand, and create self-narratives that more fully represent their lived experiences and full humanity. ‘Knowledge of Self’ is a guiding principle and mantra for the young people contributing to this effort.
Healing Justice:
The Healing Justice cohort has been exploring what it means to make agreements with ourselves and one another and what it means to inherit a lineage and legacy of love. They have been examining what it means to care for self and how different types of rest can have restorative impacts. Whether navigating day-to-day experiences or assessing and revising youth programming, we are committed to prioritizing health and wellness, guided by the principles of healing justice. Most recently, the cohort has been examining the impacts of linear time on the body and navigating how to create more expansive places for breath in our busy schedules. The cohort has been cultivating a co-collaborative space amongst members and facilitators, where they seek to learn from one another and trust themselves as the experts in their own learning and their own healing.
YPAR (Youth Participatory Action Research):
Over the last few months, Project VOYCE’s YPAR (Youth Participatory Action & Research) Cohort has been working hard at finding issues that affect students around DPS. While we identified several significant problems this semester, one of our key findings was the amount of student stress and workloads and the lack of student voices in addressing such problems. To begin addressing these and other issues students face, the YPAR Cohort is proud to be working in tandem with the DPS Offices of Community Engagement and Multicultural Outreach (CEMO) to capture authentic student voice in the district. Project VOYCE is known in the Denver school community for amplifying young people’s leadership in many ways. Members of the YPAR cohort have decided to support CEMO in deepening their outreach to students as PV has the expertise to uncover and communicate with youth about their experiences.
Project VOYCE is seeking members for our 2022 Accomplice Committee!! If you are as passionate about PV as we are and willing to serve as ambassadors and community networkers, we have an opportunity for you. The committee supports finding, connecting, and securing resources and relationships aligned with the values and mission of PV and is committed to uplifting youth voice and leadership. Learn more or contact astrid@projectvoyce.org.
You might be a good fit if you:
Have enthusiasm and passion for the mission and vision of PV
Have 2-4 hours a month to meet as a committee and assist on committee projects
Have creative ideas and plans to generate resources to support PV’s work
Complete a 1-year commitment with opportunity to renew membership
Understands and supports equitable youth-adult partnerships
An Evening with Project VOYCE & Young Invincibles
Young Invincibles Colorado invited Project VOYCE’s Fundraising Lead Astrid Flores for the second year in a row to present a workshop on non-profit fundraising. Young Invincibles invites a cohort of young adults training in policy, advocacy, and community engagement to attend a workshop on fundraising within the sector. During their time together, Astrid and the cohort were able to walk through the importance of fundraising, work through how to develop their own fundraising ask, and how to highlight their passion for Young Invincibles or other organizations they may support. The attendees brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the space and took with them newly developed skills. When asked what they took with them, one participant said, “I feel like I could explain how to create a pitch and deliver it effectively.”
