This I Believe

Dear Readers:

I recently submitted an essay to National Public Radio's This I Believe show. This I Believe is "based on a 1950s radio program of the same name, Americans from all walks of life share their personal philosophies and core values that guide their daily lives." Check them out at: www.thisibelieve.org.

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My name is Jason Wyman, and I am a youth worker. I have been a youth worker for fifteen years, and I hope to be a youth worker for the rest of my days.

I believe that youth workers are individuals that work with or on behalf of youth to facilitate their personal, social, educational, and ethical development and gain a voice and influence in society as they make the transition from dependence to independence to interdependence. I believe youth workers – after school educators, youth development professionals, parents, teachers, case managers, social workers, healthcare workers, funders, elected officials – are the hope for healing our fractured society. I believe that in order for healing to happen we have to heal ourselves.

I was asked last night “What is true for you right now?” My response: grounded. I have been on a path towards intentionality and authenticity all of my life. This path has led me many places – theater, seminary, college, AmeriCorps, college again, San Francisco, marriage. This path has forced me to try and answer “Who is Jason Wyman?” – entertainer, educator, citizen, leaner, innovator, queer. This path has no end and no beginning. And I am grounded firmly on this neverending path.

I believe I am on this path because I have always been searching for questions; because I am uncomfortable with answers. I believe this path led me to become a youth worker. I believe this path is healing me.

I look into the media’s portrait of society, and I see conflict, violence, disparity, poverty. I look into the intentions of youth workers and I see change, passion, commitment, pluralism, compassion. I look into the faces of youth and I see diversity, life, our future. And I want to support a future where all youth thrive.

I believe this future is within our reach. I believe that in order for this future to be realized we all need to discover our path of intentionality and authenticity. I believe the search for questions is the first step on this path.

And so I pose my first question, a question that was asked of me by Maura Wolfe: “What is true for you right now?”

My name is Jason Wyman, and what is true for me right now is that I believe that youth workers can heal the world.

Iterations

I hope this blog finds you in good spirits. I know mine are lifted. I am having one of those truly inspiring moments where the weather and the atmosphere converge in a preternatural way. I find myself thoroughly engrossed in the art of learning and discovery. My mind is overwhelmed observing the connections between things current, futuristic, and historic. I see the various iterations of myself and slowly they are unifying.

Once, in what seems like long ago, I wanted to be a priest. I wanted to know what devotion and commitment were. They were holy to me and therefore foreign. The idea of devotion meant sacrifice and celibacy. It meant finding places and spaces to lock things up. And you were to keep those things only between you and god and your priest. It was there, in those sins, that you found your redemption. To have no sin meant no salvation. And so you coveted those things, those pieces of yourself that you no longer know or want or even need. They become your Pandora's Box.

Now, I have opened my Pandora's Box, and I see many reflections of myself and realize that they are still me. I am still the person that wanted to be a priest. I am still the little accident prone boy. I am still the drama nerd. I am all of these iterations with all of their dreams, values, fears, and insecurities.

I am no longer in turmoil with myself over which piece of me I like more - writer; entertainer; youth worker; cook; visionary; walker; gamer; queer; world citizen; husband; friend; family member; reader. I know my insecurities and weaknesses better - self doubt; fear of vision; gossip and idle chatter; lack of focus; accident prone. I know where I am uncomfortable - boundaries; authority; identity; conflict. I have clarity of values - equity; courage; loyalty; getting things done; place and space; vision; convergence; exploration; honesty and integrity; innovation and transformation; humor and joy.

And as I look back at wanting to be a priest, devotion and commitment are no longer foreign. They are the tools I use to ignite my passion. I devote myself to becoming all iterations.

And so I ask you, my humble reader: Who are you?

Mutant Salon: Chapter One

Dear Readers:

Over the course of the next year, my dearest friend Michael and I are starting a new project called Mutant Salon. There is no end product. Only a process. A search. An exploration. Mutant Salon are tracked correspondences. They are not hosted or posted on any website. They are between the sender and the recipient. And my hope is that I mutate as I am involved in this process.

I will most likely not be getting to a new posting before the end of the year. So...I wanted to share my initial correspondence about Mutant Salon with Michael with you. I know that future postings will be inspired by Mutant Salon. And I want to make sure there is a foundation for you as a reader to understand these future postings.

Please read on. And I look forward to our ever evolving, no ever mutating, relationship.

Peace,
Jason
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My dearest Michael:

I thought it appropriate that I started out our correspondences about Mutant Salon as a formal letter. The excitement I feel about this project and next step in our always evolving relationship is possibility, creativity, and movement. I have often used the clichéd crossroads as a metaphor to where I am. Now, either I have moved or I have simply realized the serenity of the crossroads. I feel that the simple formality of a letter captures momentarily a means of communication, relationship, and clarity that can translate my thoughts and feelings in a more personal manner.

To me, a salon is a space one enters, is welcomed, lets go, and leaves rejuvenated, alive, and inspired. You, my dearest Michael, provide all that for me. A conversation with you is better than a day at the salon, especially a six hour stint that results in blue hair.

When I conceive of this project, I think of intentionally injecting my art with the same inquiry, discovery, and revelation as we do our conversations. I want to explore and innovate and create. I want to be able to walk away from my art with a feeling of deep satisfaction in having grappled with some sort of hard concept, idea, pedagogy, philosophy, theory, paradigm, theology, etc. I am not looking for answers. I am seeking new questions – a new means of transformation.

And so I want to pose my first inquiry: What is a mutant salon?

I was completely engrossed in our phone conversation on December 22^nd, 2007. I originally was interested in exploring the intersection of queer and family. I wanted, and still want, to know and delve into the vast diversity of family structures within our community.

This was spurred by a visit to the Heard Museum West, a Native American art museum in Arizona. I was blown away, though not my first time, by the descriptions of clans, families, and communities on the informational posters around the museum. They got me thinking about how I define family.

You, my dearest Michael, are a part of my family. We are not blood-related. Nor did we grow up in the same town. Nor did we share many of the same experiences. Nor did we live near each other for a time period of extended length. So what makes us brothers? What is the thread that holds us to each other? How has this bond formed, grown, and evolved? How do you define something so indefinable?

This led me to thinking about other queers. I’ve known queers who have been shunned by their biological family and been forced to find family in a variety of places. They have had to create and build a new identity, a new culture, a whole new system of support. I am completely in awe of these individuals, of their bravery, of their will, and their innovation in transformation.

Similarly, I have seen people of multi-ethnic backgrounds and families grapple with culture, identity, and history. Am I “a” or “b”? Am I both? Am I neither? Am I all of the above? How do I reconcile my history of “a” with the history of “b” knowing that at one point ancestors “b” oppressed the ancestors of “a”? Do I have to choose? Why? Do I even exist? Who am I ?

And now that I think on this in even greater detail, I’ve heard this search in so many other places and spaces as well. I’ve heard it from children of divorced parents, individuals no longer connected to the religion of their ancestors, people questioning our government and policies, the homeless, those that are dying. I have heard these questions all of my life.

And so it gets me thinking. I see connections between the things that seem so separate. I look to my cultural reference point, pop culture, for answers, and all that I get are mutated images of my identity back. I ask my television “Who am I?” And it responds with reruns of Will and Grace – a looped utopian New York where everyone is wealthy, white, and in failed relationships. I ask the movies “Who am I?” And it responds “Isolated cowboys and dead trannies and flamboyant dancers and two straight firefighters fighting for their pension and porn stars.” I ask music “Who am I?” And it responds “either a catchy pop tune about dancing or sex or dead, you mother fucking faggot.”

And none of these images or responses are answers. They are just muddled attempts by others to make me into their image – an image that is one-faced and self loathing and stereotypical. I am none of these things. I am.

For me, Mutant Salon is a place and a space I can turn to open this dialogue and create art. It is a crossroads, a gathering space, a place of options. Mutant Salon is not about seeking out a reflected image, it is about collaboratively and collectively creating a pluralistic image that mutates as more and more become involved. It never stagnates. It never reflects. It never consumes. Instead, it holds correspondences. It engenders dialogue. It inspires. It moves. It mutates. It is.

I am looking forward to hearing your ideas, thoughts, inspirations. I am excited to see where we are next year. For it will not be where we are right now. It cannot be where we are right now.

My dearest Michael, thank you for the gift of family.

Your most humble and affectionate brother,

Jason Wyman

p.s. Happy New Year!

Sacrifice

Major themes always have a way of repeating in one’s life. For me, the themes of failure, transformation, and honest keep repeating. These themes are also related to a larger theme of healing. My name means healer, and I feel very connected to that meaning both in the sense of one who heals and in the sense of one who sacrifices.

The latter sense has found ways to be both helpful and hindering. The act of sacrifice, for me, has traditionally meant losing my self to others. I grew up Catholic, and the ultimate sacrifice was martyrdom – dying for one’s convictions. I could never live up to the pressure of dying for my beliefs.

Instead, I sacrificed parts of my identity. I would deny and sometimes kill pieces of me that I knew others had a hard time with. I am queer, and I have known this since Kindergarten. However, being queer was tantamount to suicide – pure evil in the eyes of Catholicism. I hi, lied, denied, a cut it out of me – even when it was staring both my family and me in the face.

And I thought this was my duty as a son and as a Catholic. I thought that everyone was the better because of my sacrifice. In some ways, others were better. My church was better because it meant that I could still volunteer my time and skills. My family was momentarily better because there wasn’t any division among us as a family unit. And I thought I was better because I didn’t need to confront the conflicts that would arise due to coming out.

The burden of sacrificing my identity became unbearable. I found myself alone in an unknown sea. I didn’t know how to escape drowning, so I came out. Through a series of coincidental events, everyone in my life knew in about one month. Then, I began understanding the sacrifice Gandhi writes about: “Sacrifice is the law of life…We can do nothing of get nothing without paying a price for it…True sacrifice lies in deriving the greatest pleasure from the deed, no matter what the risk.”

I thought I was sacrificing myself by denying a part of my self. However, there was very little risk involved in hiding. Personally, I risked suicide. But in relation to my community, I was complacent. I didn’t risk the humiliation that I knew would happen. I didn’t risk the challenges and conflict that could move my community towards social change. I was scared, and I let that fear dictate my path and decisions.

Thirteen years later, I still find myself grappling with the notion of sacrifice. I find myself repeating similar patterns of denying parts of my identity, or even acknowledging pieces of my identity others perceive.

I am a leader in the field of youth development. This is a position I am really uncomfortable in. For years, I have been in position of middle management. These positions definitely had influence – influence in logistical details, relationships with youth and families, and school and community collaborations. But I had very little true decision-making power. I could recommend, advise, and critique. Ultimately, the decisions resided with others higher up.

In these previous positions, I was always sacrificing. I remember a very concrete sacrifice I had to make. I was working on a collaborative literacy project. This project helped middle school youth find their voices through autobiographical storytelling. I was the facilitator of the collaborative helping keep everyone informed about what was going on. At the table were two schools, a literary arts organization, and my organization.

The first three years of the collaborative were amazing. We assessed the needs of youth, parents, community, and school and crafted a project that met their stated needs. In the first semester of the program, we had our rough patches. Youth were not that interested in the program and parents kept pulling their children early from the program. With a few minor changes, we solved these problems and the program saw tremendous growth.

The close of our third year saw the collaborative come back together and determine a future course. This meant reapplying for funds together and embarking on a strategic planning process. About a third of the way through this process, I was pulled into a meeting with my supervisor. I was told that the literary arts organization was going to be cut out of the grant after we were awarded a renewal. I was also told not to tell the organization, to pretend that everything was moving forward as it had for the last three years, and to take the literary arts organization’s curriculum and train my staff on it.

The reasons given to me for this were understandable: our organization was facing a major budget shortfall and this was the only way to ensure that we could keep all of our staff. I was not sold that this was in the best interest of the literacy development of our youth. My staff were amazing youth workers. They were not literacy experts. They had a hard time understanding content standards and their application. I knew that the youth would suffer if this organization was cut out completely from the grant. I also didn’t, and still don’t, believe in the backhandedness of non-disclosure.

Instead of accepting this position I was placed in, I decided to inform all parties of what was going to happen. And on all sides I was between a rock and a hard place. I was told that there was very little I could actually do. My organization was the lead organization and if, after receiving the funds, they wanted to do something different they were at liberty to do so.

I remember many sleepless nights: nightmares of the world spinning out of control. I remember coming home and getting into arguments with my partner because of my lack of control on the job and need to find it somewhere. I remember becoming an unbearable coworker because I no longer trusted the organization as a whole. I remember feeling like I had lost a piece of my identity. I was sacrificing my values in order to be a part of the process.

Ultimately, I left this job. I remember finally looking inward and asking myself where I drew my line. Where was that point of sacrifice where I was no longer myself?

I found it during this process, and I vowed not to cross it. I was sacrificing quality programming for youth for the self preservation of my organization.

My ultimate commitment and responsibility in my career has been to youth. When youth are compromised, I can no longer be a part of what I am involved in. I need to find something that I can connect to and commit to fully. That was and is my greatest learning.

Now that I am in a new position, on that has much more power and influence, I must continue to keep these learnings at the forefront of my mind. I must also continue to grapple with the concept of sacrifice. Compromise – the giving and taking to accomplish a larger collective aim – has many points where sacrifice must be made. If was as a field want to change the world, we must be willing to sacrifice in order to realize out vision. By we must also know the power we hold and not sacrifice the progress we have made for simple political expediency.

This means honestly evaluating our failures and shortcomings. We must take this one step further – we must openly share with one another these failures. Gandhi wrote “the work before them [young Indians in South Africa] is not work of a day or a few months but…the work of years, nor is it work which can be done without strenuous labor.” We have our work cut out for us. And to continue down this path means years of labor. My hope is that love, courage, honesty, and intentionality ground our work and that we seek continuous self and collective improvement. For the true beauty of sacrifice comes not from the losing of the self. It comes from the releasing of one’s self from the bonds of the ego.

Reflections on Investing in Youth Workers: A Reconnection to My Core

Dear Readers:

It has been a while since last I wrote. I am someone who needs aspects of my life to inspire my writing. Recently, I have been very inspired. It just hasn’t been written about. Now, I am hoping to capture some of that inspiration.

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Living a values-centered life is invigorating. I find myself with so much more clarity, intention, and passion than I ever have. Even in moments of feeling overwhelmed, I find myself seeking connections, direction, hope.

Recently, I had the pleasure of helping craft a convening called Investing in Youth Workers organized by Community Network for Youth Development. The intention of the convening was to bring together youth workers of all types together and unite them on common ground. The goal was to determine whether or not we would collectively pull together a regional task force dedicated to solving some of the major workforce development opportunities and challenges for our field, youth development.

At times during this process, I found myself getting incredibly frustrated. We were on an incredibly short timeline to pull off an event that was going to (will) impact our field for years to come.

I hold myself to incredibly high standards. I have spent a good amount of time clarifying, defining, and intentionally living my core values, and I wanted all of us at a planning level to clarify, define, and live by our collective core values. Our short timeline forced us to skip this step. We jumped right into getting work done and not enough time on how to get the work done.

For me, my three core, non negotiable values I wanted for the process were honesty and integrity, equity, and innovation and transformation. At times, I felt very connected to these values, especially the value of innovation and transformation. Other times, I found myself wishing for more communication, transparency, and accountability.

I never, however, went back and reflected on my values. Instead, I just kept getting more and more irritated when things did not go as planned. I was confused, disoriented, and unable to tap into my best thinking. Thus, I felt like I was failing youth workers – a feeling I was (am) incredibly uncomfortable with and ashamed of.

It is amazing to me how failure can immediately take me away from my purpose. I believe I exist to connect. I almost always seek win-win solutions. I believe there were many times throughout the process that I did seek win-win solutions. I believe that there were other times where I was only concerned with me – how I would be perceived. And in those moments of discord, I found myself alone, sad, hurt, and defensive.

In my opening remarks at the convening, I stated we must “reflect, inquire, listen, connect, dream, act, and then start the whole process all over again.” I am back at the beginning. I am sitting in a café with my core values splayed all over the table. I am reviewing my list of what I need to live by my core values and what hinders my ability to live by them. I am reflecting on how both my contribution and lack of contribution affected the planning process and my ability to be fully involved and engaged. I must take this opportunity to be honest and joyful, explore and transform, and love and seek equity. In other words, I must reconnect to my core values.

One thing that hinders my ability to live by my core values is the need for power and control. I know I am excellent at inclusive planning. I have a lot of my ego wrapped into that belief. That is one of my greatest flaws because it hinders my ability to just be present. I find myself analyzing and critiquing processes that are not fully inclusive. During my involvement in planning this convening, I found myself continually angry by processes that I felt were not inclusive. In those moments, I wanted, no needed, power and control. I wanted to direct the process. I needed to be heard. And I know that those needs and wants impacted how I stated ideas and worked with members of the planning team.

I believe that the event was a success. In fact, I believe that we as a field are finally grappling with difficult concepts on how to build a coalition that works towards a prepared, stable, supported, and committed workforce. This is a major win. I am proud, hopeful, and joyous about this collaborative win.

I must also continue to live by my core values. This means a constant reconnection to and review of my values, what I need to stay committed to them, and what takes me away from them. In essence, I must reflect, inquire, listen, connect, dream, act, and then start all over again.

I am honored to have worked with so many amazing people on Investing in Youth Workers. I learned so many things, expanded my thinking, and transformed into another iteration of myself - one that is deeply committed to living a values-centered life.

I thank you dear reader for coming along on this journey, this path, with me. I am always astounded when I run into one of you and you bring up my writing. You all help hold me accountable to what I have written. I am eternally indebted to for your commitment to supporting me on my part. Because of you, I now realize that I am not on a path of leadership, a path that ultimately leads me towards an ego. Rather, I am on a path of intentionality – a path that ultimately leads me towards a release of and freedom from my ego. Thank you.

My Core Values

Through coaching I did with a fantastic coach named Dewey Schott, I was able to identify 12 values that are incredibly important to me and guide the way I live my life. Of those twelve, six are core values - values that guide my actions and reside at the forefront of my mind. And six are secondary values - values that support my core values. Listed below are my six core values, my definition of them, what I need to support these values, and what takes me away from them.


Love and Affection: The ability to verbally and physically express emotions, feelings, and the true self with others over time.

What I need: a sense of self; openness; failure; connections to my emotions; loyalty and commitment; honesty; being okay with 'touch' (being touched both physically and nonphysically)

What takes me away: personally constructed barriers; self loathing; internalized oppression


Exploration: The ability to let go and be immersed in the world.

What I need: inquiry; release of power and control; sense of something greater than myself; not needing to be right or correct; being open to possibilities; vision; selflessness; ambiguity

What takes me away: tunnel vision and narrow mindedness; dogma; authority; self doubt


Honesty and Integrity: The ability to openly express thoughts, feelings, ideas, and emotions in a consistent way.

What I need: communication; sense of self and self worth; feedback; active listening; transparency

What takes me away: fear; failure; shutting down the feedback loop; uncertainty; self interest; personally constructed barriers


Equity: The ability to be fair, impartial, and just.

What I need: sense of self and identity; intentionality; willingness to try and not be afraid of failure; ability to check privilege; ability to differentiate needs and wants; willingness to give up power and control; interdependence; innovation; long term commitment; transformation

What takes me away: cookie cutter equality; need for power and control; societal isolation; continually shifting commitments; oppression in all its forms; lack of identity


Innovation and Transformation: The ability to look at things from multiple angles and see patterns, ideas, and concepts organically emerge.

What I need: creativity; a sense of possibility; risk; structure; vision; knowledge; resources; failure; sense of something greater than myself; openness to change

What takes me away: unyielding bureaucracy; pessimism; ignorance; closed-mindedness; fear; stodginess


Humor and Joy: The ability to see suffering in the world and remain hopeful.

What I need: laughter; analysis; self deprecation; connection and disconnection; empathy; smiles; openness; communication; absurdity; willingness to fail; hope; bravery and courage; youthfulness

What takes me away: authority; censorship; despair; being lost in suffering; taking on the suffering of others; the need to 'fix' things; stress; ignorance

A Brief History of the Youth Development Peer Network

Dear Readers:

As I stated below, I am posting some of my other work. This is a history I wrote about the Youth Development Peer Network. The YDPN is near and dear to my heart. I am proud to be a servant of youth workers across the Bay Area. Every time I hear a youth workers story as to why they do the work they do, I feel reconnected to my own work. It is always amazing to me how the simple act of listening can be rejuvenating.

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Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was space—vast, expansive, and filled with wonders. Space shifted and moved and by some marvel galaxies, solar systems, stars, and planets were created. In one solar system, there was a particular planet, the third from a star called Sun, that was teeming with what we know to be life.

On this planet, Earth, people came to be. What was phenomenal about this is that people interacted with their environments in vastly different ways than any other life before it. People changed the landscape of the Earth with houses, monuments, villages, industry, agriculture, wars, and technology. People interacted with each other in different ways as well. Societies were built, destroyed, and built again. Lines were drawn to differentiate one group of people from another. These lines were called class, caste, ethnicity, religion, language, tribe, clan, gender, and so on.

And as time ticked ever forward, the Earth, once thought gigantic and impossible to connect, became smaller and smaller and more connected. The impact of conflict or war in one country effected the economy of many. Businesses set up shops, stores, and business centers in many countries rather than just one tying people who once had no connections to each other. Industry polluted the environment and the toxins released in one part of the world created massive storms in other parts, melted ice caps of mountains and the artic, and warmed the ocean. Technology birthed the internet and the World Wide Web and suddenly people in Thailand could communicate with people in Canada, people in Pakistan could communicate with people in Egypt; and information was available at the click of a button.

The common theme throughout all of this is connectivity and networks. Or as Jorge Luis Borges said “everything touches everything”. Soon, we learned that the greatest distance between two people is six degrees of separation. And this theme has been explored again and again by the likes of Stanley Milgram and John Guare and Frigyes Karinthy. If we use our networks, we can reach anyone in the world. For it takes only one link in a network to expose you to the entirety of the network.

The Youth Development Peer Network capitalizes on this theory by linking youth workers to each other in an effort to legitimize, professionalize, and celebrate the field of youth development. The power of the YDPN is the Network. Our ability to transfer learning, knowledge, skills, experience, and expertise between each other and to inform others about the important work of youth development is our strength. We exist to connect.

In order to truly understand the impact of the laws of networks that govern the YDPN, we must understand how the YDPN came to be. It all started with the Community Network for Youth Development. In 1992, CNYD was conceived from a study of Stanford University Center for the Study of Families, Children, and youth. This study highlighted the need of youth-serving organizations and youth workers to come together for the purpose of professional exchange, staff development, and access to training resources. Sue Eldredge, CNYD’s founder and current Executive Director, and an advisory group of organizational leaders and youth workers responded and established a three-year demonstration project to build a professional network for youth workers in the Bay Area culminating in 1994 with a Bay Area Youth Development Conference that brought together over 600 professional youth workers.[1]

Over the years, CNYD became a leader in the field of youth development providing trainings, resources, and technical assistance to organizations and youth workers and working at a systems level with funders and policymakers to ensure that outcomes and resources more effectively and consistently supported community youth development efforts. CNYD created Youth Development Learning Networks that helped organizational leaders and youth workers become more intentional with their work, build consensus and commitment to effective youth development practices, and provided a real measure of the developmental impact of their work. Through this process, CNYD provided 2000 youth workers from over 600 organizations with a broad array of professional development opportunities.[2]

In 2000, CNYD recognized that youth workers and organizational leaders also needed to be engaged as an active voice within the field to move it forward effectively. CNYD staff asked past Learning Network participants if they wanted to continue to meet to discuss how to make their voice more powerful within the field. And thus, the Youth Development Leadership Council was born.

Initially, the Youth Development Leadership Council was comprised of funders, executive directors and youth workers. CNYD played a crucial convening and facilitation role during these instrumental years. Additionally, CNYD helped secure the resources needed in order to sustain such an effort.

The YDLC met regularly from 2001 to 2003 when it became clear that it wanted to be the voice of the workers and wanted to focus its activities on building skills, fostering intention, networking, and advocating for workers. The YDLC expanded their vision and decided to establish a local network of workers. So it decided to change its name from the YDLC to the Youth Development Peer Network in an effort to better capture the work it was trying to achieve.

The YDPN launched its first event in February of 2003. And it was a huge success. The event brought together over 80 attendees from all across the Bay Area to network, foster intention, and build a regional support system for, with, and by youth workers. At the launch event, current YDPN Steering Committee members recruited more youth workers to become Steering Committee members in an effort to ensure a broad representation from across the Bay Area and constituencies served.

From 2003 to June 2005, CNYD supported the efforts of the YDPN by providing a .25 FTE for project management and meeting facilitation and monies to support events and meeting food. The Steering Committee governed the direction and activities of the Network and talked extensively about becoming a non-profit, the role of workers in the professionalization of the field, and the future of youth development. Steering Committee members worked in all types of settings and held a variety of jobs from health educators to program directors to executive directors. In addition to the Steering Committee there was a Professional Development Committee that oversaw the execution of collaborative skills building workshops, a Networking Committee that produced networking events that connected workers to each other, and an Advocacy Committee that had difficulty in crafting a policy agenda for youth workers because the needs of the field were so great and finding a starting point was overwhelming.

The number of Steering Committee members fluctuated because people left the field (mostly due to needing to find a better paying job with better benefits). Sometimes there were 12 people, sometimes there were 5 people. There was always a small group of dedicated individuals that wanted to see the Network succeed, flourish, and grow. And thanks to the support provided by CNYD, the Network did.

Highlights of YDPN events from 2003 – June 2005 include:

· The First Annual Summer Resource Exchange in April 2003 that brought together 63 youth workers to share ideas and resources for summer programming;

· A Speakers Forum on Youth Grantmaking co-sponsored by CNYD and the Youth Leadership Institute in December 2003;

· A Diversity and Equity Institute co-hosted by California Tomorrow in January 2004;

· June 2004’s Safe Summer Event in response to summer funding cuts and wanting to make sure workers were connected to each other to keep our communities safe;

· The Third Annual Summer Resource Exchange in April 2005 that brought youth workers together to learn summer activities, connect, and learn about the amazing work being done across the nation to professionalize the field (a first into the forum of workforce development for the YDPN), which was a major success;

In November 2004, CNYD was asked to participate in a national Wingspread convening that addressed attracting, developing, and retaining youth workers for the next generation. Jen Fornal, then the facilitator for the YDPN Steering Committees, asked current Steering Committee member Kica Gazmuri if she would like to represent the YDPN at the convening and to provide a frontline perspective and ground the discussions. Upon her return, Kica Gazmuri helped bring the YDPN into the spotlight as a voice of workers within this national effort to professionalize the field.

Then, in June 2005, Rebecca Goldberg and Jason Wyman, two YDPN Steering Committee members, attended a meeting in Washington, D.C. convened by the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition, which grew out of the Wingspread Convening, about setting up a study of the youth development profession nationally. This was a seminal moment for the YDPN because it established the YDPN as a voice for workers in the growing conversations and agenda for the professionalization of the youth development field.

During all this time, the YDPN still grappled with whether or not it wanted to become its own non-profit. There were benefits to becoming a non-profit such as generating a larger budget for the Network, having independence to really voice the concerns of workers, and establishing ourselves as a leader unto ourselves. And there were drawbacks such as not having any money and losing the support of such a supportive lead agency. We were going through our own transition from dependence to independence.

Then, during the summer of 2005, the YDPN needed to become more independent because CNYD was no longer able to provide a .25 FTE support. Instead, CNYD said they could provide a budget of $6000 for operating expenses for the 2005-2006 fiscal year. And then we would be on our own.

At this time, the Steering Committee was also undergoing a major transition because many of the members were leaving the field of youth development. The YDPN dismantled its subcommittees and decided to have two co-chairs that would help lead the Network through this transition. The co-chairs decided that it would take a year of concentrated effort to really build a sustainable and lasting collaborative. So instead of producing lots of events, the YDPN worked on building infrastructure, developing our own identity, building relationships with funders, and recruiting new Steering Committee members.

Concurrently, the Wingspread Convening led to the formation of the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition. Kica joined on the Steering Committee of the Next Gen Coalition and helped keep the YDPN informed about emerging national issues. Additionally, the Next Gen Coalition continued to develop the workforce study and was looking for local organizations that could collect data on workers.

The San Francisco Beacon Initiative was undergoing an excellent study of its workers and the YDPN had connections to youth workers outside of the Beacon Initiative and San Francisco, so the Next Gen Coalition approached the YDPN to interview local youth workers about the issues they were facing to broaden the data collected by the Beacon Initiative—thus, cementing the YDPN’s ability to bring a worker voice into the dialogue.

YDPN’s involvement in the Next Gen Coalition study led directly to conversations with the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund about funding the YDPN to undergo a strategic planning process. The YDPN was beginning to see where its market really was. However, the Program Officer, Darlene Hall, at the Haas Jr. Fund wasn’t convinced that the YDPN really needed a strategic planning process. Instead, Darlene asked “Is there a there there?” She wanted to know if the YDPN, in its current structure, was a feasible organization for the long haul, how it was different than other youth development intermediaries, and how it could become financially sustainable.

Before the YDPN could receive a grant from the Haas Jr. Fund, it needed to address the issues of fiscal responsibility with CNYD. CNYD had been graciously providing seed monies to support the work. But if the YDPN wanted to seek grants independently, it needed to formalize its relationship with CNYD. So during the summer of 2006, the YDPN co-chairs met with CNYD staff and formalized the relationship between CNYD and the YDPN as that of a fiscal agent with a memorandum of understanding that clearly stated the terms of the relationship. No longer would CNYD be providing monies to the YDPN. It was now time for the YDPN to seek its own funding.

In the fall of 2006, Jason Wyman, a co-chair of the YDPN, met with Darlene of the Haas Jr. Fund to discuss more in-depth what Haas Jr. would look for in a proposal. Darlene reiterated “You need to establish ‘Is there a there there?’” This led to YDPN’s first independently written grant of $10,000 to support a feasibility study. This was also the beginning of a process that re-connected YDPN to workers, ensured worker buy-in into the direction of the YDPN, and reemphasized the need for workers to come together as peers.

While this transition was happening, the YDPN also started crafting workshops that sought to bring youth workers outside of their jobs for rejuvenation and self-care. The first Day of Rejuvenation and Self-Care took place at the San Francisco Buddhist Center, with the Buddhist Center being a major contributor in the planning and execution of the event. The day was a major success. Youth workers loved the time and attention being given to them. They also loved the opportunity to hear from others and connect with intention. In response, the YDPN sponsored two more Days of Rejuvenation, one in Oakland and one in Richmond.

The YDPN also took time and intention to craft another major event…Incorporating Youth Media into Your Program held in August 2006. This event was created using a completely different process than the YDPN has used before. Instead of a Professional Development Committee just taking the lead and crafting an event, the YDPN asked members at the end of its 3^rd Annual Summer Resource Exchange, what topics interested them. Youth workers wanted to explore technology.

Jason then started meeting with leaders in the field of youth development and technology across the Bay Area in the fall of 2005, and asked them what an event of this sort would look like and how it could be most successful. After numerous conversations, the YDPN found a host, the Bayview/Hunter’s Point Center for Art and Technology, and built sponsorships with World Savvy, CHALK, and San Francisco Art Institute’s City Studio. This successful collaborative process produced an event in which over 70 youth worker from across the Bay Area (Livermore to Marin to Oakland to San Francisco) came together to look at the intersection of youth development and technology. Youth workers reported a high level of satisfaction and affinity for the event. It was one of the most successful skill-building workshops the YDPN had ever sponsored.

The 2006-2007 fiscal year saw the YDPN propel forward momentously. In addition to receiving the Haas Jr. Fund grant, the YDPN was encouraged to apply for monies from the San Francisco Foundation. The YDPN wrote a grant to San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families to support field building in San Francisco. The YDPN launched its first fundraising campaign and raised over $3000 from individual contributions. By the end of fiscal year 2006-2007, the YDPN had increased its budget from $9500 (most of which supported the feasibility study) to a budget of over $70,000 for fiscal year 2007-2008.

The YDPN also increased its Steering Committee, only about five in Summer of 2005, to 12 members by June 2007. The YDPN presented a workshop at DCYF’s State of the City’s Children Summit on the state of the workforce locally, state-wide, and nationally. CNYD, the Oakland Community After School Alliance, and the YDPN co-hosted three workforce forums with the Next Gen Coalition and local youth workers—one in Oakland, one in San Francisco, and one for funders, policymakers, and intermediaries.

The Next Gen Coalition sponsored another summit in November 2006. Through Kica’s active involvement in the Coalition’s Steering Committee, the YDPN was able to send two additional members to represent workers—Vicky Valentine, and Marquez Gray. This summit marked two years of YDPN’s deep and committed work to ensuring worker voice in efforts of professionalization.

And the YDPN deepened its networking by training middle school youth as Community Ambassadors that helped plan, outreach, and lead networking events that had two components. One component was a time for youth workers to connect to each other. The second component was hosting successful outreach fairs that connected youth and families to youth development organizations and programs. Both events were well attended by youth and families and modeled what quality youth development is.

The YDPN in all of its growth and transition always knew, and still knows, that success is determined by the connectedness of its Network. The YDPN’s motto is “Power through a Network of Peers”. But what does this mean? The protest march “The people united shall never be divided” is an excellent example of the meaning of our motto. By linking arm and arm and weaving a network of support, learning, and advocacy, the YDPN can take bold steps forward to professionalize our field and change society for the better. We can make a difference.

Peers are essential to carrying this work forward. By looking at each other as peers we break down the hierarchical power dynamic and create a new power dynamic of unity, camaraderie, and equality. We move forward together. And through this power shift we become the change we wish to see in the world.

Youth development, at its core, believes that young people can transition successfully from dependence to independence when provided with supports and opportunities. The Youth Development Peer Network takes it one step further. It believes that youth and youth workers and community members and parents and all humanity can stand side-by-side as equals. It believes that through creating avenues of equality and equity, supports and opportunities, ALL can move beyond dependence and independence to interdependence. Gandhi stated “Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. Without interrelation with society he cannot realize his oneness with the universe or suppress his egotism. His social interdependence enables him to test his faith and to prove himself on the touchstone of reality.” And John Muir wrote “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” Or… “Everything touches everything.”

The YDPN’s purposes are to hold people together as peers and to promote the worker agenda through equitable avenues. This task is enormous and its responsibility and accountability to the workers is vital to its growth. The YDPN must ensure that avenues of worker buy-in exist and are representative of all youth workers in the Bay Area. It must continue to be a Network of Peers.

Five years down the road, the YDPN will be more connected and interwoven. Youth workers from beyond the Bay Area will feel invested in its future because the agenda of the YDPN is the agenda of the worker.

Ten years down the road, the YDPN will have made enormous strides in ensuring workers rights in our field and will have advocated for livable wages, respect, benefits, career ladders, and continued learning opportunities–not only for youth development, but for other workers in similar situations.

One hundred years down the road, the YDPN will have affected systems of governance by proving that by standing shoulder to shoulder we are stronger and can be a positive change agent.

One thousand years down the road, the YDPN will no longer exist and the lines that once used to divide now are used to unite.

Ten thousand years down the road, the Earth will be in harmony and the true depth of interdependence will be realized.

One million years down the road, space.

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[1] Taken from http://cnyd.org/cnydstory/index.php

[2] Ibid.