I started writing  this blog a week before it was due. I took a pause between writing because I wanted to wait for the results of current events, the election results. as we all know that our 46th President is Joe Biden and our Vice President is MADAM Vice President Kamala Harris. Through out this election my stress level was out the roof. I watched states turn blue to red or red to blue. But I had faith in our people. Our voices mattered and every single vote was counted and mattered. The results of the election was proof the democracy is alive, our voices were heard and our actions were seen. Throughout this process the youth played a huge role, without them I believe the adults voices wouldn't have roared so load. All of our actions were all worth it! BUT that does not mean it is OVER we have a lot of healing to do this is just the BEGINING! so My YOUTH folx do not silence your voices this time make them LOUDER.

 ( The link below is a video I put together of all the events that has happened throughout the 4 years of pain) 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fJtif_E0icuPIK-Pq3E2mr7iTSgDMQCh/view?usp=sharing

   

   I believe that 2020 has been a rebirth of the youth and adult unifying to fight for their rights. Based on the book At Our Best introduction by Gretchen Brion-Meisels, Deepa Sriya Vasudevan, and Jessica Tseming Fei; youth and adults have been working together for centuries. The youth themselves have been participating in social events for years. This section of the book starts with the history of with the history of the youth around the world. There were a couple of statements that resonated with me, this is one of  them: "Across these historical and contemporary movements, youth-adult partnerships and intergenerational solidarity have been critical to building community power and engaging transformative work." (P. 3, Brion-Meisels, Vasudevan, Tseming Fei) The reason why this statement stood out to me is that I had the opportunity to watch this unfold this year. Like I mentioned in the beginning that youth-adult worked side by side and had such a powerful impact to society. In this introduction Hart's Ladder of youth participation stood out to me, this illustration helped me understand the participation of youth-adult in different levels. 

The authors then lead to the different components of youth-adult partnership and the authentic youth-adult partnerships. I can go on and on about all the factors that has been added to my knowledge of youth work. 

Following this article, the Profiles, Key Moments, and a Continuum of Youth-Led Participation; An Inclusive Model of Youth Development Work by Pegah Rahmanian outlines a Out of school program known as Youth In Action. I remember in one of our class lecture in Ydev 300 Pegah gave a brief description about the space of Youth In Action. Reading this article gave a more depth description about the space and environment of the program. Youth in Action is a youth led program, the participation of the youth is really high on the ladder; I would say that the participation as at

the end of the ladder. I found it interesting on how Pegah describes participation as a continuum, "Imagine each type of participation as a continuum, expanding and contracting, giving growth the permission to move fluidly, and dismissing the idea of absolute." (P.9, Rahmanian) There isn't a straight line of participation. I found her idea affirming that its okay to have adult led participation but for a short term. I agree, in this continuum level adults set the structures or the programming and the purpose of it. I believe this program is successful because of the participation and the safe space that is provided for the youth! Like I mentioned on my last couple of blogs my approach to the youth field is the Social Justice Youth Development. YIA is a perfect example of SJYD, the way the program is constructed is a sense of belonging for youth and adults. 

Ending this post with a quote of our MADAM Vice President Kamala Harris:

 "To the children of our country regardless of your gender our country has sent you a clear message dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourselves in a ways others may not simply because they've never seen it before but know we will applaud you every step of the way!" 

    - Madam Vice President Kamala Harris