Across local, national, and international contexts, there are folks practicing critical and intersectional youth justice and youth-centered work through their organizing, participation in K-12 schools, research, and policy. Such work spans varied scholarly and movement lineages to center racial justice, youth leadership and empowerment, civic engagement and civic education, ethnic studies, community organizing, social work, abolition, disability justice, and so much more.

The Youth Action & Research Network is committed to lifting up this work through cultivating connection, shared learning, and support. Our network spans New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and includes those who are committed to partnering with you and centering youth power and participation in justice-driven work.

Mission:

We aim to create a collective where power and voice are shared between adults and youth, across organizations, roles, and regions. We work to learn from one another and use our shared network of resources and areas of expertise to support efforts to encourage powerful youth voices.  

Goals:

1. To bring individuals and groups together who have varied interests, expertise, and locality while sharing commitments to racial justice, addressing intersections of systems of oppression, and sharing power with youth in transformative ways;

2. To pool resources, ideas, and foster collaboration throughout the network;

3. To be at the forefront of relevant projects, programs, discussions, and scholarship related to youth voice, action, and power;

4. Use our collective power to empower young people and develop this work across higher education, K-12 education, community organizations.

The Structure:

We imagine this network to be a collective, one rooted in collaboration and shared power, that is between adults but also between youth and adults, whether that be within or across our various spaces of operation. We imagine the possibility of developing a network of networks, such that there may be groups within the whole that focus on particular contexts (Camden, or rural areas, etc.) or activities (research, curriculum development, organizing, policy) or topics (counselors not cops, education as a human right).

We meet regularly. (approximately six times per year). Half of those meetings are hosted in-person around the Philly and Camden areas. The other half are hosted online (See the calendar for more details!) The meetings are facilitated by members of the Y.A.R.N. We also have working groups that meet in between meetings. These working groups are all volunteer. The working groups report back at the Y.A.R.N. member meetings.

Group Governance:

We are committed to shared governance for this network, and we have identified roles and responsibilities to keep the network sustained. Currently, we have a core organizing team. This team is open to all, but with the expectation that signing up for the year means participating in monthly planning sessions. Within this committee, folks will volunteer to take the lead on various things such as developing agendas for convenings (virtual or in person), developing content, and building/strengthening the network. Individuals might also volunteer to assist with a specific task, such as organizing the summer convening or building connections with local orgs. Each working group has 1-2 facilitators who are responsible for organizing and facilitating the meetings, and for reporting back to the network. Additional roles will take shape as the network develops and we invite ideas from members!