Youth-Adult Partnership Spotlight-September

When the Goal is Hope

“It’s never been this bad.”

“That’s not the program.  Enrollment will be down.  No one will stay.”

“Everyone’s tired.  They can’t create something brand new.”

“We don’t have the resources.  We can’t connect.”

These are words I hear these days.  But, I don’t hear them from youth.  I hear them from the adults who serve youth.  Although our actions may say we are still working together towards our youth-adult partnership goals, if our hearts are too heavy, we’re not able to move forward.  Instead, we’re caught in old definitions, perspectives, even ‘rules’ that are preventing us from our goals.  Since, many felt ‘forced’ to change their goals, their ‘achievement’ may seem empty, without meaning.  But, I hope that we still, hope, and this is an achievement in itself. 

Last month I wrote about how we reframe our goals, allow them to change as we need them to.  I emphasized that in the end they are still our goals and serve us, not others’ expectations of us.  This month is a continuation of that recognition with a more heartfelt and less practical nature.  Why?  Because, as I scanned the resources I had slated for this month, they told me something about goals and hope, when they need each other and when they are different.  

In our current climate, we may not have the capacity, or even the interest, to attend, plan and organize large events, as impactful as they may be.  The opportunity for this performative aspect of programming is much less.  Still,  if in fact our success, as I wrote last month, is only about numbers, for example, the number of people we can gather together for a particular number of times, what does this success actually achieve?

Over the weekend, the last weekend in August, and for most, the last weekend of summer vacation, current events could not have reminded me more of this.  I, too, looked at a rekindled March on Washington and felt like a virtual celebration with four youth about their favorite diverse books was not enough.  And yet, we did connect and laugh, share and learn, with each other.  During the end of that same weekend, many also saw the  celebration of a superhero, not the Black Panther per say though his inspiration matters, but the actor who portrayed him.  He led, quietly, by example, answering the question that we too seldom ask our youth.  “What is your ‘spark’?  What brings you joy?  How do you contribute?”  None of the answers to these questions can be answered without hope.  

Though I nod my head in agreement when people say,  “hope is not a strategy”.  Ultimately, youth-adult partnership is about hope.  It isn’t about ‘fixing’ nor ‘filling’.  Adults, we have the opportunities to be that type of leader, the passionate, the engaged, every day.  Youth still remember that our jobs do not define us, though we work to help youth down that road.  The research in a TED talk, How Youth Thrive, I posted for Back to School states that overwhelmingly youth are empowered when they can create.  That this act is joyful, no matter the tangible outcome.  In fact, what are goals, without joy?  Without hope?  Hope can exist without goals, but goals do not really exist without hope. 

This September I celebrate one year of these blog posts.  I won’t ever know the numbers, who read, who listened, who acted, who learned.  So, did I accomplish what I set out to in a year?   I hoped, and I hope, so.  I hoped I would learn more.  I hoped to connect more.  I hoped the resources I shared would be of value.  Still, I feel the joy of creating and sharing.  Writing is a way to hold ourselves accountable to that hope, another selfish reason, for my own monthly blog posts.  I encourage you as the reader to reflect each month on particular events and then reframe them into hopeful entries for yourself.  

Maya Angelou is credited with saying, “Do the best you can until you know better.  Then when you know better, do better.”  Will I do better over the next year?  I, still, hope so.  Do you?  The resources provided below are some opportunities to know better.

Resources:

A key piece of the foundation adults can provide for youth is a transparent conversation around the systemic realities in our nation and their effects.  In this case, I am not speaking about systemic racism, though that is still of great importance and should continue to be a focus with all youth.  In this case I am speaking about the systemic pieces that are in place that are contributing to our country’s polarization.  This episode of The Peacemakers podcast,  AMERICA’S POLARIZATION: CAUSES, EFFECTS, SOLUTIONS – WITH DOUG MCADAM discusses how people are overwhelmingly dealing with stress related to our lack of civil discourse.  With transparency, we can be hopeful and empowered to use what we can change and understand the other pieces that will take longer, without victimization nor demonization. http://www.thepeacemakerspodcast.com/019-americas-polarization-causes-effects-solutions-with-doug-mcadam/?fbclid=IwAR28KFUDDjTNr8F_cJ8qF9ITiyH4fC3UQu84k4xb84Cv5Zvs4EYulmbOxxo

Continuing the importance of civil discourse and intentionality, this article, Six Ways to Take Action if Your Child is Bullied, found in the online edition of Parents magazine also exemplifies the changemakers stance taken in McAdam’s podcast.  Instead of accepting a less than favorable reality, this article is a positive framing of skills and strategies, embedded in the hope that there are people around us who care and will listen.  https://www.parents.com/featured/6WaysTakeAction4H2020?sm_r=BqUdCu?utm_campaign=&utm_source=4htoday&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20200206&utm_term=&utm_variation=&_cldee=ZXJpbi5jb253YXlAd2lzYy5lZHU%3d&recipientid=contact-cc535ba908ebe911910a001dd8b71c7f-9db0d7dfebdc4915a91f4b10333a1a2b&esid=df2d4c38-2748-ea11-9110-001dd8b71c7c

Remember, goals are about growth, not ‘winning’.  Last month, I highlighted the resource Winning in the Dark, and this article, Don’t Compete.  Connect., from the University of Minnesota Extension’s Youth Development Insight blog, reminds us that the reasons around our goals matter, moreso when it comes to maintaining a positive mindset in the face of adversity, or hope.  What instead would our goals look like if we were, as T’Challa said, “one tribe”?  

https://blog-youth-development-insight.extension.umn.edu/2018/06/dont-compete-connect.html#more

Moreover, the hypercompetitive drive and othering of ‘losers’ is too often more evidence of negative effects of systemic racism.  It means that one person’s success must be theirs and theirs alone, so too their ‘failure’.  As adults, and especially educators, we must continue to find tools that work for us so that we can better work for all youth and ensure that their personal hope is not lost in the gaps of an imperfect system.  A great start is this series of videos meant to Amplify Student Voice.  We cannot simply survive, but thrive, and that is what hope is all about.

https://wisconsin.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/amplify-student-voice-video/tools-for-anti-racist-teaching-video-virtual-professional-learning-series/en/#.X00XbshKhPZ

 

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