Youth Leadership
Through the coordination and implementation of the New England Youth Organizing Network (NEYON) and CYCLE’s Youth Leadership Technical Assistance Program, the Youth Leadership Team focuses on developing youth leaders engaged in social justice work throughout New England. Additionally, we provide professional support to youth workers and adult allies involved in supporting youth leaders and organizers. The Youth Leadership Team's programming adopts a collaborative approach in partnering with organizations and includes training, coaching, and thought partnership to navigate challenges relevant to youth leadership, development, and organizing. It also aids in implementing structures that amplify youth perspectives and create space for just and equitable solutions to challenges facing public schools.
Current Projects
CHATTANOOGA 2.0 / Hamilton County-Chattanooga Children’s Cabinet
CYCLE is partnering with Chattanooga 2.0 and the Hamilton County-Chattanooga Children’s Cabinet to guide the design of a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project focused on developing Children’s Cabinet structures and practices that support youth leadership, voice, and influence. Chattanooga 2.0 serves as the anchor organization for the Hamilton County-Chattanooga Children’s Cabinet, which focuses on improving the quality of life for at-risk and disengaged youth, with current priorities centered on mental and physical health, addressing homelessness, and chronic absenteeism. In support of the YPAR project, CYCLE will facilitate an in-person youth researchers training and provide bi-weekly coaching calls and material supports to staff and adult allies supporting the YPAR work on the ground.
NEW ENGLAND YOUTH ORGANIZING & LEADERSHIP Technical Assistance
The CYCLE Youth Leadership team provides technical assistance (TA) to grantees of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation Amplifying Youth Voice fund that are working with youth to organize for educational justice throughout the New England region. CYCLE’s TA is focused on 1) hard skills such as political education, organizing models, and youth development practices, and 2) tools to support youth and organizers’ well- being, community, and allyship. We promote a space grounded in partnership and trust that centers the wisdom and lived experiences of the participants and a collaborative process informed by demonstrated needs in the field.
New england Youth organizing network (NEYON)
NEYON is a community of youth-led organizing groups in New England that exists to build a strong, youth-led movement for social justice. NEYON intentionally connects youth-led organizing groups to each other to build power, and connects and amplifies the work happening in communities, so that young people have more power to engage as experts and leaders in pursuit of education justice. The largest program under the NEYON umbrella is the annual Youth Leadership Institute (YLI), which convenes over 200 youth and adult allies to develop relationships, share learning and analysis, and take on action toward equity in public schools around the region.
The CYCLE Youth Leadership team coordinates and implements NEYON activities and programming in collaboration with the NEYON Advisory Council and YLI Youth Planning Team comprised adults, youth workers, and youth from the field. Our goal is to deepen relationships among organizing groups by facilitating in-person and virtual convenings for groups to connect, learn from each other, and foster a sense of ownership of the network.
Youth Leadership & Storytelling in the Partnership for the Future of Learning
CYCLE supports the national Partnership for the Future of Learning to deepen its support and inclusion of youth leadership within its governance structure and network activities. To date, CYCLE has convened national youth leadership and organizing partners to seed ideas and vision for the Partnership’s support for youth leadership and organizing more broadly. CYCLE also supported the recruitment and inclusion of youth leaders to formally join the Partnership’s Strategy Council to ensure youth perspectives are present when the Partnership is making and affirming decisions about strategic direction.
Throughout 2023–2024, CYCLE is supporting the Partnership for the Future of Learning to explore opportunities to advance deeper learning practices and youth engagement and leadership in the Partnership. CYCLE led a collaborative discovery phase that helped inform how new intergenerational grassroots partners are advocating for equitable public education. In phase 2 of our collaboration, the Partnership and CYCLE launched a forward-thinking initiative: the Exploratory Group for Youth Storytelling. Youth ages 14-24 from across the United States are engaging in a series of virtual meetings designed to bring their unique stories to the forefront of supporting public education and deeper learning.