Context: Many activists work long hours and are unware of what other groups are doing. This isolation enables competition, territoriality, and duplicate effort.
To combat these weaknesses in the movement groups around the world organize weekly or montly meals for youth organizers and allies.
There are now interconnected circles in Boston, DC, Boston, New York, and Sao Paulo - and many others less directly connected. Can you connect us with similar circles in other countries?
We've synthesized our experience from circle building here. Use this as a guide to create your own circles, to hold dialogues on collaboration, to move your community forward and to get more people involved.
The goal is to interconnect youth organizers and allies into a movement that is cohesive, vital, and stable.
Facilitating the circle
It isn't necessary to cover all these points one meeting. Just keep them in mind.
Conference style? Persue open space technology - www.openspaceworld.org
Youth meetings on collaboration
1. Introductions. Let everyone introduce themselves and their work.
2. Define the youth movement. What is it?
3. Breaks are essential. For networking and everything else.
4. Rotate to a different restaurant, home, or non-profit each week/month. Especially in the non-profit offices this invites groups to have more ownership.
5. Do something fun. Sing. Engage ritual. Practice some kind of non-verbal communication. This accesses different parts of your brain.
6. Eat food. This resembles the "breaking bread" metaphor.
7. Barnraise. Sit in a circle. Invite people to say: "My group needs ..." Then offer advice/resources/connections/ideas etc.
8. Consider the local-to-global connection. Single issue focus may show immediate results but may not change the system. Fight pollution, but remember to vote.
9. Rotate facilitators.
10. Evaluate the meeting. What worked? What failed? Who's missing?
11. Keep minutes. Email them to the rest of the group.
12. Consider focusing on a new issue each week/month. Offer a video, a guest speaker, or a presentation?
13. Touch the issue. No one can inspire action around an issue as much as a victim of that issue.
14. What can we do TOGETHER that none of us can do alone? Some ideas include: a. A city youth council, b. Weekly retreats to help groups move beyond professional relationship and build personal relationships, c. A local city cultural exchange program; facilitate youth from different faiths, races, and socio-economic classes to visit each others communities.
15. Expand. These gatherings are great opportunities for new volunteers and funders to connect.