Bringing action home

As two teenagers quickly approaching one of the most important times in our life, an opportunity to attend the Everyday Democracy conference in Denver is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The message, “Making every voice matter,” is one that can be truly adapted to any community. The lessons we learned and the friendships we made will prove valuable through out the rest of our lives. Little did we know it would take us this trip, stretched over many miles, to find out the true value behind making every voice matter.

In Lewiston, Maine, Athena and I worked together to help develop the Y.A.D.A. initiative. Within Y.A.D.A., Youth + Adults + Dialogue = Action, we represented the youth of our community. One of our main focuses was bridging the gap between youth and adults in our local community to create healthy relationships and understandings of each other. In order to spread our focus and the ideals behind Y.A.D.A., to communities beyond , we first had to take a flight down to Denver, Colorado, and listen to what the people from Everyday Democracy had to say.

From the minute we landed in Denver, we were quickly overwhelmed with everything the city and the conference had to offer. After a quick journey around one of the truly fascinating cities in the U.S., we were excited to get to work. An enjoyable breakfast and quick hellos lead into the first workshop. The day was filled with lessons on racial equality, white privilege, and more importantly increasing youth and adult civic engagement.

Never in our lives before have Athena and I been able to walk into a room and realize that there were over a hundred adults in a room waiting to hear about what we have done at home with our Y.A.D.A. initiative, and what we can offer them as they go further with their community projects. For us, the fact that adults wanted our opinions, two teenagers, on how they can improve their communities was amazing for us. Then as quickly as it began it ended.

When we arrived home we were quick to put our new ideas into action. Y.A.D.A. held a celebration to commemorate its achievements within the community for the 2008 year. At the celebration Athena and I had the chance to share with the several Y.A.D.A. sub-action groups what we learned from the workshops we attended and about the friendships we made. Also, the action steps that we can apply to improve the quality and quantity of projects we take upon ourselves. Most likely the strongest message we projected was the fact that if we truly wanted to create positive change we had to incorporate people from all walks of life, in order to make significant progress in our community.

This is where we can take Everyday Democracy’s message, “Making every voice matter,” and turn it into action, by giving everyone an equal say in the community. This is the most valuable lesson the action groups must keep in mind while moving forward. Athena and I can say this is the most valuable message we took away from the Everyday Democracy conference. With this we can make our own voices matter by spreading the word, and hopefully influencing others to do the same.

Written by Athena Andoniades and Tyler Lussier

Y.A.D.A. Youth Facilitators

Y.A.D.A Initiative

Lewiston, Maine

 

Athena (left) and Tyler (right) are shown here with Kristopher McClure - also of Y.A.D.A. - at Everyday Democracy's Making Every Voice Matter national meeting in Denver. The slide show above features photos from the recent Y.A.D.A. celebration in Lewiston.

Comments

[Julie Fanselow]

Athena and Tyler, thanks so much for sharing this story of your trip to Denver and your work in Maine. There definitely was a strong youth vibe at the Making Every Voice Matter meeting, and Y.A.D.A. had one of the strongest delegations there.

Click below for some more coverage of the Lewiston celebration which was posted recently on our website: http://www.everyday-democracy.org/en/Article.791.aspx

[Molly Barrett]

To Athena and Tyler: Hats off to you--and to Y.A.D.A. When we planned our national conference, we knew that having a strong youth presence would be one of the keys to a successful event. We are grateful to you--and to the other young people who came from communities across the country--for participating so actively in every element of the conference.

The ideas and insights you contributed inspired and energized participants of all ages. The new relationships and networks you built will most certainly serve you well, now, and in the future.

And you got the message we hoped to convey: Every Voice Matters. We're confident that you will carry that message wherever you go in life. Thank you for joining us in this work. We look forward to staying in touch with you.
Molly