According to Young Leaders Strong City Co-Founder/Executive Director Amber Sims,
“’I loved the fact that we were all able to speak our minds without being judged and looked at a certain type of way’ shared a student who recently attended one of our Young Leaders, Strong City summits.
“Founded in 2014, the mission for Young Leaders Strong City (YLSC) is to equip a network of students, educators, and adult allies with tools and resources they need to analyze, advocate, and dismantle systemic racism in themselves, their schools, and communities to create a more equitable society.
“2020 marked a year of tremendous challenge and opportunity for us. With a global pandemic that highlighted inequities, and a collective moment to reckon with our country’s history of racism through police brutality, YLSC programming was needed more than ever. Last year, we worked with over 500 students and nearly 200 educators to have conversations about race, identity and work toward a more inclusive future.
“Earlier this year I was announced as the first executive director for YLSC. I, along with my team, am tremendously excited to offer our programming far and wide at no cost to our student participants with the donations received.
“Over the past eight years, we have reached more than 3,000 students through at least one of YLSC’s ongoing or annual programs: the Youth Advisory Council, collaborative district-specific summits in partnership with Dallas ISD and Richardson ISD, and/or our annual Racial Equity Teen Summit scheduled for November 13th this year. As the longest serving racial equity organization in North Texas for students, YLSC is an important part of the ecosystem to develop our next generation of leaders focused on inclusion. Our students report significant growth in their confidence and ability to foster conversations about race, place, and identity in their interactions while also devising actionable plans to further organize within their communities. In a recent summit, a student shared:
“‘I’m really grateful that there’s a program where adults are listening to all of the problems that kids have these days in high school and in society… Kids nowadays know what’s happening in society and all of the issues, and how we can solve them. This [program] is something that every child and adult should attend with an open mind and an open heart.’
“Last year was our first North Texas Giving Day and the tremendous community support we received enabled our team to gain a larger platform and create more programming for students. Our vision for North Texas Giving Day 2021 is to support our campaigns to amplify student voice by supporting student projects to create a more equitable community. Whether it’s advocating for a summit in their school district or advocating for a more diverse curriculum to be taught in their classrooms, YLSC students have been and will be at the forefront of community change.
“Stand with the young leaders of Dallas-Fort Worth and make an investment in them, and us, on North Texas Giving Day. We look forward to it!”
* Photo credit: Stephanie Drenka **Graphic provided by Young Leaders Strong City
In 12 years, Communities Foundation of Texas’ North Texas Giving Day has pumped more than $375 million into the North Texas community. In 2020, more than $58.8 million was raised through more than 106,000 donors benefiting over 3,200 area nonprofits.
On Thursday, September 23, support Young Leaders Strong City by linking here and spreading the word. #NTxGivingDay