Youth Development Peer Network

Community Conversations is a program of the Youth Development Peer Network (YDPN) that seeks to bring youth workers, the community and organizations together to brainstorm ideas and create action plans around a specific guiding question utilizing existing resources. The YDPN’s role is to partner with an organization looking for support and input from the community around a specific issue. YDPN seeks and connects with intentional partners to meet the partnering organizations goals.  

The entire Community Conversation process utilizes the YDPN’s process: Reflect- the art of looking inward; Listen - the art of hearing other stories; Inquire - the art of asking questions; Connect - the art of remembering; Dream - the art of vision; Act- the art of personal commitment. The first Community Conversation focuses on Reflect, Listen, and Inquire. The second Community Conversation focuses on Inquire and Connect. The third Community Conversation focuses on Dream and Act. The end result is a concrete action plan that answers the guiding question/issue built by the community with youth worker’s collaborating to make it a success.

The YDPN’s first partner was the Blood Centers of the Pacific. Jan Holyko, the Youth Outreach Project Manager, was lead on behalf of the Blood Centers. The Blood Center’s need is to close the blood gap by finding and supporting donors for life, specifically donors of color. Collaboratively, the YDPN and Jan connected with many organizations from school-based programs, clinics, service learning programs and city government (e.g. New Generations, San Francisco Peer Resources, San Francisco Wraparound Project, the Wellness Initiative and San Francisco Youth commission etc. ).

The first Community Conversation was held on June 23, 2008, and it was a tremendous success bringing together approximately 15 youth workers to start the process of dialogue to figure out the best way to close the blood gap.  This powerful meeting got deep about the issues young people and the community face regarding closing the blood gap. Some examples include ethnic barriers, young people’s outlook on needles, and religious views. At the conversation, participants also discussed the internal issues of the Blood Centers and the lack of outreach to communities of color. Participants also asked Jan Holyko questions and concerns going forward. After discussing the issues, participants discussed the needs such as compensation for the youth, targeted marketing materials, timing and location, etc. The Conversation ended on a positive note with dreaming of what it will take to develop a cohort young people to close the blood gap such as competitions, making it culturally cool, and more.  

On July 21, 2008, the second Community Conversation had another great turn out. This Conversation had some participants that were unable to make it to the first conversation. These participants brought great resources and ideas. The Conversation started with a tour of the Blood Centers including how and where the blood is stored, a brief history lesson on what the requirements for donating blood, and a detailed breakdown of rare blood types. Particularly crucial to the issue of closing the blood gap and increasing the number of people of color who donate blood during the tour, during the tour a presenter from the Blood Centers share a story about a gentlemen in Nebraska that needed a rare blood type. The healthcare workers supporting this gentleman were searching for approximately three days before connecting with the Blood Center in San Francisco. The Blood Center had the blood needed. Now, he may be able to see a few more days.

After the tour, participants dialogued about our individual connection to blood. Then, participants broke into small groups based on each community leader’s identity and connection. The small groups represented various communities the Blood Centers needs to reach out to and were based on the feedback of participants during the first Community Conversations. A few were violence prevention, African American, Latino, service learning, schools etc. Within each group, participants, brainstormed who to outreach to, what the message should be, when the messages should go out, where the messages should go and where to find particular community members, and how to reach that community. These questions were specifically focused on developing a cohort of young leaders specific to their community. The theory behind this methodology is making intentional connections that lead to intentional action and utilize existing resources while building new partnerships.

The final Community Conversation was held on August 11,2008. Prior to the Community Conversation Marquez Gray (lead facilitator), Jason Wyman (YDPN Program Manager) and Jan Holyko had a planning meeting. During this planning meeting, the three discussed the previous two community conversations, took all of the information gathered and created a mini action plan using only the input of the community. Marquez had never seen this methodology before and was honored to be apart.

The final Community Conversation was not as well attended as the first two due to it being the end of the summer and a lot of people taking time off to get ready for the upcoming school year. Although there were few people, the conversation was very productive and two new people showed up, an intern with Youth Service California from China and the first young person who worked or CHALK. Everyone went right to work by simply going over the action plan. Participants were then asked what they felt they connected to and what they were able to achieve collectively.

The entire Community Conversation process can be summed up in one word: experience. In closing out the Community Conversations, Marquez Gray wrote:

I experienced so many things through the three months. I experienced true community partnership and collaboration like never before from the conversations to the planning meetings between each conversation. It was such a valuable learning experience for me. In my six years of doing community work I have never seen community partners work in such a way: a process of love, intention and action. It really put a new face on community work for me, and I am probably not just speaking for myself but for the group. We truly have a model that can be used in any community, organization, religious institution or school. None of this would be possible without the dedication and hard work from the community. A very special thanks goes out to Jan Holyko and the Blood Centers for their willingness and dedication to not accepting the norm in order to close the blood gap for ALL communities. I also would like to than Mary Northcutt of Huckleberry Youth Program for not just being a note taker but a bringing her insight to the process. And for the master mind behind all of this Jason Wyman who has stayed consistent and true to insuring the communities voice is heard, not only that but willing to put works with his faith in the movement.

written by: Marquez Gray