Youth Leadership

Our Youth Leadership Programs

Apply for a Youth Collective!

  • TRUTH Collective — For trans and nonbinary youth (ages 14-18) to connect, share stories, and learn media advocacy. Runs January-December. Learn more at https://ourtranstruth.org/truth-program
  • Roses Collective — Leadership opportunities for Black, brown, and Indigenous trans girls and nonbinary femmes (ages 14-18) to build community and power. Rolling applications at https://ourtranstruth.org/roses-initiative
  • Two-Spirit Collective For Two-Spirit youth to connect Indigenous and LGBTQ+ organizing through culturally grounded leadership development.

All programs are by application only. Subscribe for updates on when applications open.

How We Train

We use popular education and political education methods that start with young people’s lived experiences. Youth learn by running campaigns, facilitating workshops, and organizing in their communities.

Our approach is simple: youth become trainers. Program participants learn to facilitate their own workshops and lead trainings for other young people. We provide train-the-trainer curriculum so they can take these skills anywhere.

Where Training Happens

National Gathering: Annual convening bringing together our coalitions of youth leadership organizations and youth leaders from across the country to train each other, share strategies and build national relationships.

Membership Meetings: Monthly gatherings where youth make decisions and build skills.

National Leadership Trainings & Summits: Day-long workshops on community organizing, campaign strategy, and student rights advocacy hosted by organizations across the country.

External Conferences: We attend conferences across movements and sectors, from education justice gatherings to district-wide professional development, from career fairs to racial and gender justice convenings, bringing our organizing expertise to train both youth and the adult allies, educators, and youth workers who support them in schools and communities.

Partner summits and activists camps: We facilitate trainings at GSA summits and activist camps nationwide.

Virtual: Since March 2020, we’ve expanded digital movement-building, hosting virtual GSA meetings and online organizing trainings to meet youth where they are.

Trainings

  • Know Your Rights + Student Advocacy Legal protections, education laws, and navigating school systems
  • Community Organizing Campaign strategy, power mapping, coalition building, and digital organizing tools
  • GSA Development Starting and sustaining clubs, running effective meetings, building membership
  • Racial and Gender Justice Intersectional analysis, decolonizing curriculum, organizing across identity lines
  • Storytelling Narrative building, testifying, and using media as organizing tools
  • Leadership Skills Facilitation, public speaking, and train-the-trainer methods
  • Adult Allyship Supporting youth movements without co-opting, youth-led vs. youth programming
  • Movement Care Financial literacy, caretaking practices, healing justice approaches
  • Policy and Anti-Harassment Work Legislative advocacy, creating safer schools, addressing discrimination