Our Youth

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Original Statement of Purpose (circa 1987)

We are young people working together with experienced adult advisors to end environmental destruction and to achieve social justice. We are committed to learning the skills needed to work together and have a meaningful impact on the world. We are training ourselves and other young people to be empowered social activists, and to be conscious, effective world citizens while learning to care for ourselves and one another. We hope to gradually create a network of concerned young people, first regionally, then nationally, and ultimately worldwide.
 

COF provides a base for working together towards our common goals. Mostly we are high school students assisted by experienced leaders in the fields of environmental, social action and spiritual consciousness movements. Our unique approach is characterized by the collaborative relationships that exist between our young people and our adults and by our combination of action, training, and meditative practices. Participants are developing skills in meeting process, project planning, centering -- both in group and individually, public speaking, systematic analysis of issues, fundraising, direct action campaigns and other events, and listening to ourselves and to others.

Our generation of high school students represents the future of our planet. We know that our birthright is being squandered, and a growing number of us are rising to the needs of the times. We want to do more than simply express our concern; we are looking for ways to work together in order to have a meaningful impact on the world. We want to find ways to use our whole beings to work against war, to halt the destruction of the environment, to achieve social justice, and to live in harmony with the planet and all its beings.

Join our movement to support raising awareness around issues that mean most to today’s youth. 

We are inviting schools from around the nation to join us in our mission to organize, support, and train student youth groups how to address and respond to the social issues that affect their lives. We are looking to connect with:

• School Administrators - host our program and offer your students a safe and sacred space for youth advocacy.
• Community Collaborators - support local youth with programs that meet them where they're at.
• Parents / Caretakers - encourage young leaders to authentically address their fears & phobias about today's world.
• Students - effectively shift the way you show up in the world and become the change you wish to see.

Our trainings take place in a variety of formats including weekend workshops, week-long immersions, summer camp experiential, and year-long residential programs where we:

• Create a healing and transformative experience for all participants.
• Tap our collective wisdom through interactive dialogue between workshop leaders and participants, in both plenary and small group sessions.
• Enhance our understanding of how to conduct campaigns and actions consistent with our core beliefs.
• Develop clear and coherent next steps, new tools, techniques and plans of action, for both individuals and small and large groups.
• Hang out, relax, chant, meditate, sing and dance.
• Create a sacred space which nourishes & supports us.

Shaping leadership through connection and collaboration - at the ground level.

Building confidence, skills, and the mindset to guide others and take charge of positive change. Instead of just studying leadership in a textbook, students experience and practice motivating peers, speaking to school administrators, managing a budget etc.

• Peer-to-Peer Educational Programs: Safe environments for students to learn boundary-setting, ask for help, and address past or current abuse situations.
• Collective Reporting: Utilizing peer groups to approach adult authorities, offering a safer alternative to individual reporting where youth risk disbelief or exacerbated danger (such as in cases involving abusive caretakers or date-rape scenarios).
• Campus Tours: High school and college peer-based organizing tours modeled after the effective, empowering approach of the original Creating Our Future initiative.
• Self-Worth Workshops & Leadership Training: Programs enabling teenagers to heal inner wounds, avoid self-demoting relationships, achieve their goals, and lead similar workshops themselves.
• Coming of Age Rituals: Summer camp experiences—akin to Native American vision quests [i.e. rituals facilitated by Anna Halprin trained facilitators, who established parameters within which our summer camp students could develop their own unique rituals].
• Whole Being Training: Core teachings applied through weekend workshops, summer camps, and experimental learning projects.
• Student-Run Childcare Training: High school home-education programs focused on creating safe, cozy environments for children and minimizing parental-caused wounds.
• Self-Directed Projects: Dedicated time, space, and training for students to pursue any additional projects they feel called to take on.
• Coordination Infrastructure: Local, regional, national, and international coordination modeled after the United Religions Initiative.