EMPOWERED YOUTH INITIATIVE

Immersion and Leadership Training
Los Angeles April 23-30, 2012
with Hala Khouri, Seane Corn, Suzanne Sterling
and Leila Steinberg, Aqeela Sherills, Krishna Kaurv,Fidel Rodriguez, and more...


This Leadership Training is an on-the-ground immersion where participants engage in a process of mutual inquiry with the young people considered "at risk." Daily yoga and processing with Hala, Seane and Suzanne combined with workshops with local activists and field trips to local juvenile halls and camps with leaders doing cutting edge work to empower marginalized and under served youth in Los Angeles.

This 7 day training is a unique opportunity for participants to engage in experiential learning, inner transformation and direct service work.

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Questions: email eyi@offthematintotheworld.org

The Training
* Monthly support calls starting in January 2012: these calls will consist of fundraising support for those who need to raise funds to attend, book and article suggestions and discussion, and general inspiration and preparation.
* 7 day immersion training in Los Angeles (schedule follows): includes accommodations and food, ground transportation, daily yoga with Hala, Seane and Suzanne, lectures, fieldwork with local leaders and outings.
* 6 months of post- training mentoring by the Off the Mat staff to support you in implementing a project in your local area.

Schedule*
DAY 1: Arrival, Opening Circle and Dinner
DAY 2: Yoga, Workshop with Dr.Susan Phillips on the history of gangs in LA,; presentation by Fidel Rodriguez on rites of passage and at risk youth.
DAY 3: Yoga, Workshop/ Discussion with LAPD officer, Tour of Juvenile Halls and surrounding areas with Fidel Rodriguez, Lunch at Homeboy Industries’ Homegirl Cafe
DAY 4- 6: Yoga, fieldwork experiences in Juvenile Hall, Camps, and various communities in L.A. (with Leila Steinberg, Aqeela Sherills, Krishna Kaur, Tessa Hicks- Peterson, and Fidel Rodriguez).
Day 7: Sweat Loge ceremony, Closing Circle
*evenings will consist of counsel circle/ discussions and free time
*** schedule is subject to change

Cost
*includes all of the above
$1900 if paid in full by March 1, 2012 $2300 if paid after March 1**
**per person rate based on double occupancy, does not include airfare
$1100 for LA residents who don't need housing ($1400 if paid after March 1)
A non-refundable deposit of $250 secures your space

Leaders

Leila Steinberg, Alternative Intervention Models
Leila  is an artist and community organizer who began working with youth twenty years ago in the San Francisco Bay area. Since 1998, through Alternative Intervention Models (AIM), Steinberg has been providing specialized programs incorporating poetry, music, and the arts, for youth within the juvenile justice system and residential treatment facilities. AIM programs confront juvenile crime and victimization, drug abuse and gang violence and other pressing issues facing at-risk youth in a workshop format that combines creative arts with an open dialogue. To learn more about Leila and AIM, click here .

Aqeela Sherrills
Aqeela  has traveled as far as Ireland and Serbia to bridge conflicts between communities. He has worked with both gangs and government, and is best known for helping create the 1992 Peace Agreement between Los Angeles gang rivals, the Bloods and the Crips. The inspiration behind Aqeela’s work has been the canvas of his own life. He grew up in the Jordan Down housing projects in South Central Los Angeles, joined the Crips when he was 14 and witnessed the deaths of numerous friends. But going to college at UC Irvine years later began to open his eyes and change his course. Through intimate and academic circumstances he began to recognize the essence of all of the work he does today: the unequivocal value of the human spirit. Today he believes that these two things are the key to changing our society, and has begun the Reverence Movement to support “intentional conversation” in order to bring about connection and dissolve conflict between people. He supports purposes that help all people see both themselves and others as sacred.


Krishna Kaur , Y.O.G.A for Youth
Krishna Kaur has been teaching the art and science of Kundalini Yoga since 1970. She is Founder of Yoga for Youth, and the International Association of Black Yoga Teachers. Krishna has taught yoga and trained others to teach urban and incarcerated youth for the past 14 years. She also teaches regularly in West Africa. To learn more, click here .

Tessa Hicks Peterson, PhD
Tessa is the director of the Center for California Cultural and Social Issues and an Assistant Professor in Urban Studies at Pitzer College. As such, she guides students in connecting with their local communities through service, research and advocacy to address the pressing social issues critical to community members in the surrounding neighborhoods. Before arriving to Pitzer three years ago, Tessa worked with communities throughout Southern California on human relations and civil rights issues as Associate Director at the Anti-Defamation League and, prior to that, as the Youth Programs Director at the National Conference for Community and Justice.

Fidel Rodriguez
Fidel  is a Senior Human Relations Consultant and Racialized Gang Violence Prevention Specialist for the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. He has a broad experience working with “at risk” youth, incarcerated youth and adults conducting trainings on culture, history and physical education. Fidel developed a successful “Rites of Passage” program called “Spreading Seeds: Mind Body Spirit” based on raising consciousness, releasing anger and assisting in psychological and physical rebirths. He was host of award winning and number one rated hip hop radio show, “Divine Forces Radio.” Rodriguez was a McNair Scholar and a 1998 graduate of the University of Southern California with B.A.’ in Chicano/Latino Studies and African American Studies.

Susan Phillips, PhD
Susan  is an anthropologist who has studied Los Angeles gangs and the prison system since 1990. She earned a PhD from UCLA in 1998 and published her first book, Wallbangin: Graffiti and Gangs in L.A., in 1999. Since 2001, she has taught at Pitzer College in Claremont and just finished the manuscript for her second book on a Los Angeles gang sweep. In 2008, she was named a Soros Justice Media Fellow, and she continues to write and think critically about gangs, punishment, and urban violence globally.


Francisco Letelier, Muralist
Francisco  is an artist and writer born in Chile. He bridges continents and weaves together history and contemporary experiences, creating powerful and memorable work. For more than 25 years, Letelier has created art that crosses disciplines and cultures while building bridges between nations, individuals and communities. A passionate commitment to education and dialogue has placed his work at the forefront of human rights, cultural and environmental struggles. A long time resident of Los Angeles, Letelier has worked, taught and held residencies through many organizations and institutions in Southern California, including SPARC, The 18th Street Arts Center and The Museum of Tolerance. Through LA Theatre Works the artist conducted workshops throughout Los Angeles County with incarcerated youth, creating books, murals and installations that have been exhibited widely. As a founding member of The Brigada Orlando Letelier, a muralist brigade formed by Chilean exiles, Francisco worked on collective murals exhibitions and graphic works throughout the United States.


The Empowered Youth Initiative

This is Off the Mat, Into the World's commitment to serving our youth. We believe that if we can facilitate the empowerment of youth, we can make an exponential impact on social justice and environmental issues. Our young people are our future leaders, one of the best places to invest our time and resources.

Young people who do not have adequate support around them are often considered “at risk.” They are at risk of engaging in criminal activity, drugs, joining gangs, violent behavior, or being the victims of violence. Psychologically they are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and mental illness.

The Empowered Youth Initiative aims at addressing the larger context that these young people are brought up in. Their behavior is a product of what is going on in their home, community, school and district; as well as their ancestry and physiology. The more we as conscious activists can understand this larger socio-economic and political context, the more effective we can be in serving this community.

READ MORE about our partners and Itinerary