Youth CORE Webinar: Youth of Color Take Lead on Safety

*A note to funders: This webinar is intended to be a strategy space for organizers and their capacity building partners. Therefore we respectfully request that representative from foundations not join this session.

Since the tragic mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL this past February, an inspiring wave of youth activism has led the charge to demand reforms to our gun laws and measures to create a safer society. Many youth organizing groups across the country have stepped into this moment of mass mobilization to uplift the experiences, leadership, and demands of working class youth of color. These groups represent decades of struggle to end the school-to-prison and deportation pipeline, push back against the criminalization of their communities, and offer solutions to violence that are rooted in a transformative vision of care and providing ample resources to young people.

While coverage of this moment continues to largely focus on the perspectives of white middle class youth, our groups are taking steps to build their own bases, shift the narrative to center racial justice, and counter the push to increase policing in schools. As they do this, many youth organizers have expressed a desire to learn more about how others in our networks are orienting towards this moment.

As a first step, FCYO is teaming up with The Alliance for Educational Justice, Mobilize the Immigrant Vote/YVote, Advancement Project National Office, Communities United and Philadelphia Student Union to host Youth of Color Take Lead on Safety. We invite youth organizers and their partners to this virtual forum on April 12th from 2:00pm - 3:30pm EST to discuss strategies for advancing the leadership of youth of color within the current debate on gun violence and safety.

Our co-presenters, who represent work being done at the local, statewide, and national levels, will offer insights on strategy, tactics, and framing that we hope will be useful for other organizers seeking to make meaningful short and long term interventions. Participants will also have the opportunity to exchange with other organizers from around the country to share their own thoughts on strategy and uplift key questions they are grappling with.