YOUTH LEADERSHIP
Youth leadership is important to the movement in ending violence because young people typically influence one another as much or more than the adults in their lives do. Youth leaders in Alaska are working together to influence positive change and promote a peer culture of respect and equality. There are several opportunities in Sitka for youth to engage in community projects to end violence.
THE SITKA YOUTH LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE
The Sitka Youth Leadership Committee (SYLC) is a group of youth leaders from Sitka’s middle and high schools dedicated to building bridges and promoting respect between individuals, schools, and communities.
Members identify issues they see harming their peers and communities, and develop strategies to address and counteract them. In order to do so, students participate in training intensives to learn about these issues and be able to effectively identify injustices and create positive change. As leaders, members try to actively improve ourselves and our communities.
A SYLC member displays a poster designed by the group at their launch of the Mental Health Is Health campaign.
Check out SYLC's website here.
SYLC is open to teens from all of Sitka’s middle and high schools. Opportunities include travel, public speaking, stipends, and internships. To learn more about SYLC or to inquire about joining, contact our SYLC intern at sylcintern@gmail.com
PEER EDUCATION
Peer educators are interviewed by KCAW during Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.
A branch of SYLC, Peer Education focuses specifically on addressing unhealthy relationship norms. Trained peer educators visit classrooms and afterschool programs to teach other teens about the core components of healthy relationships and early warning signs of harmful and abusive behaviors.
Peer educators attend monthly workshops alongside SYLC members to deepen their knowledge of societal injustices that are interwoven with unhealthy relationship dynamics.
Check out SYLC's website here.
Peer education is open to teens from all of Sitka’s middle and high schools. Opportunities include travel, public speaking, stipends, and internships. To learn more about Peer Education or to inquire about joining, contact our SYLC intern at sylcintern@gmail.com.
LEAD ON! FOR PEACE & EQUALITY
LeadOn! For Peace and Equality is a statewide youth leadership conference where youth and adults from around Alaska gather together to develop leadership skills for promoting peace and equality.
Participants attend workshops and acquire tools for developing projects that promote nonviolence and respect in their home communities.
For more information about the conference or to see a list of LeadOn! projects, visit the LeadOn! website, Facebook, or Instagram.
LeadOn! Summit in Anchorage. (Photo provided by LeadOn! team.)
You can also visit the Sitka Youth Leadership Committee's website for current information about participating in Lead On! with other youth who live in Sitka.
REBOUND
REBOUND is an experiential prevention project allowing youth from Southeast Alaska to explore Glacier Bay National Park or other wilderness areas on a week-long kayak expedition.
Participants learn outdoor survival skills like setting up a camp stove, cooking in the back country, setting up tents, navigation, bear safety, clean camp and respecting the environment.
REBOUND participants kayak in Glacier Bay. (Photo by Elena Gustafson, SAFV)
Participants also learn the value of connecting across cultures, team building, leadership, communication skills, goal setting, examining individual and societal patterns, and pushing past their own physical, emotional, and mental limitations. This program uses the outdoor setting to engage youth in conversations on respect for the environment, self, and others.
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REBOUND is not currently being implemented in Sitka. For more information about the program, email prevention@safv.org.
