A podcast conversation with youth who are leading the way to a more fair and just future
The latest episode of our Moving Upstream podcast features a conversation with young people committed to taking on social, economic, and racial injustices through a New Deal for Youth.
A New Deal for Youth, which was developed by a group of young changemakers who partnered with CLASP, the Center for Law and Social Policy, calls on leaders in the public and private sectors to support youth-led policy solutions to address the glaring economic and social injustices facing young people today, particularly young people of color. The New Deal for Youth puts young people at the forefront of social change, and outlines actions and investments government agencies and private organizations can take right now.
We can’t wait for economic justice. We can’t wait for healing and wellbeing. We can’t wait for safe communities. It is time for a New Deal for Youth. -- #WhyWeCan’tWait: A New Deal for Youth
PI’s Ruben Cantu and Dr. Nia West-Bey of CLASP sat down with three young changemakers—Isabel Coronado of Next100 in New Mexico; Kadesha Mitchell with The Cove/DFZ Adolescent Clubhouse in Maryland; and Connor Kalahiki of Hawaii representing the Center for Native American Youth—to talk about what A New Deal for Youth means to them:
Kadesha Mitchell: I am super passionate about anything mental health, especially when it comes to youth, having gone through my own struggles, and even the lack of support I had before there was COVID 19. And I found that a lot of my youth didn't want to speak about what was going on because there was already all of this pressure in the world, and uncertainty, and there was such a focus on school. And that was it.
Isabel Coronado: When I think of safety, I think of the bills that I've been trying to help push, like child-sensitive arrest safety, or not arresting parents in front of children, because that's a safety issue and that's a traumatic experience that you can't take back. That's why I'm really excited with the New Deal. I'm not the only one here thinking about it in that scope.
Connor Kalahiki:The other aspect that I'm really trying to push for with the New Deal for Youth is incorporating indigenous self-determination as a form of environmental justice, because the original stewards of the land on which we inhabit have taken care of this land for thousands of years and their practices are proven to work because of how long we've existed on these lands.
Listen to the conversation here or find us on your favorite podcast-streaming app by searching for Prevention Institute’s Moving Upstream.
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