On Our Way to Shifting Power and Building a Youth Coalition

It’s been a while since our last post, but don’t let that fool you! Since January, Youth Forward MKE has hit the ground running on our initiative to SHIFT POWER to students, CREATE SPACE for young people in decision making circles, and BUILD A COALITION of Milwaukee youth to sustain this action. 

In February, our team hired on 10 AMAZING Youth Forward MKE Ambassadors. The Ambassadors, all age 14-18, are students determined to change the way Milwaukee schools support Black male youth. Check out their bios here!

Throughout March, the Ambassadors engaged in a series of training workshops focused on public speaking, youth power, and identifying white supremacy culture in school. They then used their systems thinking knowledge to pair up and create presentations that relied on data and lived experience to argue 1. what in school systems needs to change and 2. how THEY as Ambassadors see themselves working towards this change.

On April 13th, the Ambassadors had their presentation showcase. This was their first big opportunity to engage with their Milwaukee Succeeds and Greater Milwaukee Foundation work community and to start building connections.

The Ambassadors are now using insight gained from the presentations and March trainings to further engage in advocacy. They have each been assigned tasks such as:

• Collecting qualitative data by asking students what THEY want to see changed in high school

• Engaging community leaders in conversations about how to improve outcomes for Black males in high school

• Recruiting youth for the Design Your Future summer fellowship

• Advising community leaders on how to best facilitate the Design Your Future process

So far, our team of 10 young people have done SO much work, and this is only the start!!! Continue to follow Youth Forward MKE as we journey to INCREASE the NUMBER of young people have at decision making tables, and AMPLIFY their lived experiences.