Organizing Tools for Teens

The Teen Activist Academy & Community Voices Heard Present Power to the People

Sunday, January 8: 3:00 - 5:00 PM EST @ The Workers Circle (247 W. 37th Street 5th Floor)

What is power? Who has the power to make key decisions about the policies of a community, neighborhood, city, state or entire country? And how can everyday people come together to harness their power to make the changes we need for a more just and equitable world? You'll learn about power, how to do a power analysis, and how to build power in your school, community, and wider world to achieve lasting change.

Taught by Juanita Lewis, Executive Director of Community Voices Heard, a member-led, multi-racial organization principally comprised of women of color and low-income families in New York State.

This event is free and open to Teens only. You can register by clicking here or the button below.

Shadow Count 2023

Tuesday, January 24 starting at 10:00 PM – Wednesday, January 25th at 4:00 AM

On January 24th – 25th (overnight), the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) will conduct the HOPE (Homelessness Outreach Population Estimate) Count and will send volunteers across New York City to count people experiencing homelessness who are unsheltered.

On the same night, paid “decoys” will be planted in pairs in designated locations throughout all five boroughs of New York City. Information on the number of decoys that are counted by DHS volunteers will be used to assess the accuracy of the official DHS HOPE Count 2023.

Decoys are stationed on streets and in subways throughout the five boroughs. Your designated borough will be assigned to you during training. 

In order to participate, you must attend one mandatory training prior to the night of Shadow Count. Two types of trainings are available. You may choose to attend an IN-PERSON training at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, located at 2180 3rd Avenue @ 119th Street, New York, NY 10035 OR a VIRTUAL training via Zoom.

Compensation: Decoys will be paid $85.

Click here for more information and to fill out the registration form

My Body My Faith

Thursday, January 26: 7:00 PM ESTSt. Philip's Episcopal Church (204 West 134th Street)

This year's topic of this annual Interfaith Forum is "My Body/My Faith" and is meant to cover an exploration of privacy issues from a faith perspective in a post-Dobbs world. 

The Keynote Speaker is The Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas: Dean of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and in 2019, she was appointed to the Bill and Judith Moyers Chair in Theology at Union. She is considered a leader in the field of womanist theology, racial reconciliation, social justice and sexuality and the Black church.

She will be joined by:

Dr. Gabby Cudjoe Wilkes - Founding Lead Pastor at the Double Love Church Experience

Talia Kaplan - Rabbinic Fellow at the Park Slope Jewish Center

Apostle Onleilove Chika Alston - Founder of Prophetic Whirlwind Ministries

This event is brought to you by the Brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the Alpha Gamma Lambda Chapter (Harlem Alphas)

Donate in Support of Migrants from the Souther Border

Three Kings Day - Friday, January 6

On Three King's Day, South Bronx Mutual Aid urges you to share a gift with migrants bussed to NYC from the Southern Border. Click here to donate.

South Bronx Mutual Aid is a volunteer group of neighbors helping neighbors. They believe in the inherent dignity of all people and seek to support our community in solidarity with each other. They recognize that many of their neighbors have not been able to sufficiently get support for their needs, such as food, clothing, personal care items, housing, and legal support, to name a few. We believe in serving all populations in their community and provide what they can, when they can, to all.

If you have any questions, please reach out to meryl@merylranzer.com and click here to donate.

Teen Social Activism Leadership Program

Activating Young Leaders: Embodied Leadership Program

Application Deadline: Wednesday, January 11 Program runs from January 18 to April 12

A free nine-week program supported by The Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism in collaboration with Lucid Body House, to a small group of selected candidates.

Are you between the ages of 18-25? Do you consider yourself an activist or an advocate for change, someone passionate about improving our world? Are you looking for inner as well as outer resources to help achieve your goals?

Many young activists can at times feel overwhelmed and even despair with what seem like insurmountable challenges and perpetual social injustices. Yet, equipped with skills, energy and resources, a group of committed and compassionate leaders can be a great influence on their peers and inspire transformative action.

This training is organized as a nine-week training and mentoring program over three months led by core teachers, Fay Simpson (Acting Coach, NYU Professor) and Dh. Ananta (Ordained Buddhist, ICNY Fellow). We aim to embolden a group of young people to take action with newly-learnt mindful, grounded and connected perspectives.

Through this program, you will gain new skills to:

Equip yourself with tools to activate your goals through the use of mindfulness and mental clarity.
Empower yourself through enhanced emotional regulation, physical presence, and effectiveness.
Appreciate opportunities to act creatively, effectively, and in solidarity with allies.
Work with challenges and difficulties in creative new ways that address conflict with sensitivity and promote connection and action based on a wider and unbiased perspective.
Launch or enhance projects that candidates bring to the program that address social inequalities.

WHAT DOES THE TRAINING INVOLVE? 

Drawing on their skills as mindfulness, bodywork practitioners, teachers, and mobilizers of marginalized groups, Fay and Ananta will guide participants through this training to build skills for empowerment.

Each week will typically involve some movement and bodywork such as yoga and somatic experiencing, meditation and reflective exercises to connect with motivations and challenges, and creative expression through body and speech.

Themes covered during the training will include:

Mindfulness, direct sense experience, perception
Somatic awareness and psycho-physical understanding
Working with habits and runaway thoughts
Resourcing ourselves and positive framing
Compassion and welcoming the unwanted
Equanimity and connection – sensitivity and openness toward difference
Vision and insight – dreaming big, understanding the map toward achievement
Working with archetypes to encourage physical and vocal confidence

There will also be unique talks from inspirational young leaders like yourselves.

8 two-hour sessions: Jan 18 – March 8, Wednesdays 6:30-8:30 pm, Day Retreat: Feb 18, Saturday 11am-3pm, Final session: April 12, 6:30-9:30 pm

Click here to learn more and click here or the button below to apply.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for Clinicians

Orientation: Thursday, January 19 from 2:00 - 3:30 PM ESTCourse: Each Thursday, January 26, Feb. 2, 9, 16, 23, and March 2, 9, 16 from 2:00 - 4:30 PM ESTAll meetings for this course will be held online

The classic 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course offered for mental health clinicians, clergy, chaplains, and others working in the mental health field. This is an opportunity for participants to have a direct experience of the MBSR curriculum for personal practice and provides a foundation for those clinicians interested in incorporating techniques of mindfulness into their clinical practices/settings. This course meets the prerequisite for those who are interested in entering the pathway to become MBSR teachers themselves.

Click Here for more information and to register