HopeWorks Youth Leadership Project 

January Newsletter 
By Kayleigh Hasson 

Meeting recap 
Our meeting began at 10am at HopeWorks. We discussed certain current
events, specifically the news about the woman who spoke out about being sexually
assaulted by Aziz Ansari, the Golden Globes Time’s Up movement, and I, Tonya’s
representation of the cycle of abuse.
We did a teambuilding icebreaker activity in which one person left the room and
another person was selected from the remaining circle of girls to be the “leader.” The
leader started doing a movement, and everyone else imitated the leader. The “outsider”
came back into the room and had to guess who the leader was, while the leader
switched movements and everyone else followed as discreetly as possible. This
represented how it felt to be a leader versus an outsider in social situations.
We also did the “step forward, step back” activity. We all started out next to each
other in a line in the middle of the room. Heidi and Summer instructed us to either step
forward or step back depending on whether we had had certain experiences. This
revealed differences in our privilege. We discussed the activity afterwards, and we
talked about how it’s very clear that people start off with different advantages or
disadvantages due to factors like race, age, socioeconomic class, gender, and sexual
orientation, which they have no control over.
After this activity, we read through a packet of social justice terms (the document
is attached). Heidi gave a presentation on privilege, power, and intersectionality. We
completed a personal reflection sheet, considering which aspects of our identities were
centered (favored by society) or marginalized. Then, we did an exercise in which we
had to speak for two minutes, uninterrupted, to a partner about a marginalized identity.
Our partner did the same, then we switched and each in turn spoke about a centered
identity. Afterwards, we had the chance to respond to each other and discuss as a
group. We realized that as a whole we learned more about ourselves from being forced
to speak for two minutes straight, and felt more relaxed when we didn’t need to worry
about being interrupted. We also agreed that we tended to take our centered identities
for granted.
Next, we learned about power and oppression. Social oppression leads to the
exploitation of a social group by another. We discussed the different levels of
oppression, specifically institutional and cultural, and how we saw that related to gender
and race. This connects to violence because the roots of oppression are also the roots
of domestic violence and sexual assault. Near the end of the meeting, we learned about
intersectionality, which is the theory that people experience oppression differently due to
different marginalized identities. For example, a black woman experiences sexism
differently than a white woman, and racism differently than a black man. 
If you missed the meeting, ​make sure to read through the Social Justice
Terminology list and ​this article on privilege​.

Logistics
Heidi reviewed some upcoming HopeWorks events we can attend. Each youth
leader must attend at least one HopeWorks event during the YLP cycle as part of our
involvement in the youth leadership project. A few of these include the “Building
Healthier Teen Relationships” workshop later this month (see details below), and an
event in April for current high school juniors and seniors about consent and sexual
violence on college campuses.
As youth leaders, we have the option to co-facilitate an upcoming meeting. If you
have a topic you’d like to discuss or a presentation you’d like to give, let Heidi know as
soon as possible!
After the success of our December “In their Shoes” workshop, we’re going to
work on another project for the end of this school year: a film screening of ​Audrie and
Daisy​. The screening will be at the Miller Branch Library on April 29th (during Sexual
Assault Awareness Month). We’ll need to be there from 1:30pm-4:45pm, but the
screening and discussion for participants will only be from 2pm-4:30pm. Next meeting
we’ll work out how to advertise and prepare for the film screening, as well as whether or
not we want to do something like a pantry drive or bake sale fundraiser at the screening.

Resources attached 
● Social Justice Terminology
● Building Healthier Teen Relationships Workshop Flyer
● Dragonfly Arts Magazine Flyer and Submission Guidelines
○ Youth leaders are encouraged to submit to this arts magazine, as
HopeWorks is looking for a diverse group of voices to showcase.

Upcoming events
● Next meeting: Saturday, February 17, 10am-2pm at HopeWorks
● Building Healthier Teen Relationships Workshop (HopeWorks event): Saturday,
February 24, 9am-11:15am at Oakland Mills High School, 9540 Kilimanjaro Road
Columbia, MD 21045
 ● Audrie and Daisy​ film screening (YLP final project): Sunday, April 29th,
1:30-4:45pm at Miller Branch Library, 9421 Frederick Rd, Ellicott City, MD 21042

Future meeting topics 

● February: Media representations of gender and sexual/domestic violence
● March: Sexual violence and understanding consent
● April: Self Care/Body Positivity
● May: Teen’s Choice (may be swapped with April)