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Serving Our Youth

CYEM FY23 In-Person All Grantee Institute
Event Page

All session materials for the 2023 Children and Youth and Engaging Men All Grantee Institute will be listed below. This page will serve as the primary access point for all Institute materials, which will be updated on a rolling basis.

Below you’ll find some helpful links for the All Grantee Institute. Please reach out to the cyemta@also-chicago.org email with any questions or concerns.

Day 1 – Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Welcome and Introductions
Plenary Session | 9:30 – 9:40 am
Presenters: Antonella Santostefano, Serving Our Youth TA Team and Elaina Roberts, OVW CYEM Program Specialist
Description: Welcome and introductions by the Serving Our Youth TA team and OVW staff.

Creating a Foundation of Relationships through Networking
Plenary Session | 9:40 – 10:45 am 
Presenters: Jennifer Rose, Jessica Moreno, Antonella Santostefano, Jason Page, and Josh Bailey, Serving Our Youth TA Team
Description: Using a strength-based approach Grantees will have an opportunity to connect through personal- and community-based storytelling and reflection, as well as hear from youth about their experiences. This space will allow all to strategize and network with the goal of building sustainable and meaningful relationships.

Cultivating Connection – Using Creative Activities to Engage and Connect with Children, Youth, and Families
Plenary Session | 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Presenters: Nivea Castaneda and Ruby White Starr, Caminar Latino  
Description: This interactive session will provide participants with storytelling and icebreaker prompts, music and art activities, as well as art project ideas to engage the families that they serve and to create moments for meaningful connection between children and their parents. 

Minding the Gap: Tips on Strengthening Youth-Adult Relationships
Plenary Session | 1:30 – 2:45 pm
Presenters:  Maddie Allred, Jay Bates, Paris Juarez, and Matthew Osuna Senn, SOY Youth Action Committee Members
Description: In this session, we will introduce the newest TA resources on tips for building relationships with youth. These resources include strategies from both a youth and adult perspective, including insights from the Youth Action Committee.

Co-Creating Trauma Informed Organizational Culture
Plenary Session | 3:00 – 4:30 pm
Presenter: Erin Fairchild, Collective Action Consulting 
Description: In this interactive workshop, participants will be supported to understand how direct and vicarious trauma impacts our hearts, spirits, bodies and minds alongside frameworks for unlearning oppressive norms that can exacerbate trauma. Additionally, we will explore practical strategies for supporting ourselves, our teams and organizations, and our communities and constituents to move towards well-being. Participants will leave with role appropriate tools to support those impacted by trauma, reflection questions for on-going personal and professional growth, and ideas for self and communal care.

Day 2 – Wednesday, November 15, 2023

 

Historical and Intergenerational Trauma with Youth
Plenary Session | 9:00 – 10:15 am
Presenter: Dr. Quenette Walton, Consultant
Description: This session centers on historical and intergenerational trauma with a focus on Underserved youth. The session will aim to provide a  comprehensive understanding of the history, context, and root causes of trauma experienced by young people. By examining the complex interplay between history, culture, and lived experience, this session will support CYEM and EM grantees with valuable insights and practical tools to support the healing and empowerment of young people in their communities.

Social Emotional Learning – Engaging Men & Boys
Breakout | 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Presenter: Joe Tchen, Social Emotional Learning Institute 
Description: Join Joseph Tchen from the Institute For Social and Emotional Learning (IFSEL) for an experiential session that focuses on three goals: 

  • Practice active listening and deep listening
  • Network and build community among CYEM grantees
  • Increase knowledge and understanding of serving children, youth, and young adults

Participants will walk away with a check-in ritual,  practical skills they can implement right away, and a stronger connection to their peers.

Active and Deep Listening
Breakout | 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Presenter: Maria Limón, Consultant
Description: This session centers listening deeply and well to the young people we work with, even when triggered or emotionally exhausted.  The pandemic complicated the lives of young people; those complications enter the room with them. This session opens with an opportunity to reflect on our own lives as young people. Our own experiences influence the emotional triggers that may (or may not) come into play. The session ends with a review of strategies for deepening our work with young people through active listening.

Co-Creating Trauma Informed School Communities (pre-k and k-12)
Breakout | 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Presenter: Erin Fairchild, Collective Action Consulting 
Description: Educators are facing toxic stress and trauma in the classroom and whole school community in intense ways that often make every day feel like a crisis. It’s not an easy time to be in education. In this interactive workshop, participants will be supported to understand how individual and collective trauma can impact learning, classrooms, whole school communities, teachers and staff…and what we can do about it in role appropriate ways. Because experiences with systemic violence can and do have traumatic impact, content is built on an anti-oppression framework. We will explore practical, everyday strategies for building trauma informed, equity centered environments where all children and youth can feel safe and connected, a cornerstone for both learning and healing. Participants will also be cared for and honored in their roles as educators, paraeducators, and administrators.

LGBTQ+ Youth
Breakout | 1:30 – 2:45 pm
Presenter: Lisa Gilmore, Consultant
Description: In this session, we will explore the cultural context for IPV in LGBTQ+ relationships–including cis and hetero normativity–and the resulting barriers to safety, as well as actions to create supportive environments for LGBTQ+ young people, especially in places where it is increasingly less safe for them.

Supplementary Materials

Youth and Firearms
Breakout | 1:30 – 2:45 pm
Presenters: Darren Mitchell, Consultant, Jason Page and Joshua Bailey, MCSR, Jill Flowers and Cristine Escelara, ALSO
Description: Youth have continued to vocalize how important it is to discuss firearm safety and prevention. In this session we will explore the intersections of firearms and IPV. Participants will also strategize on how to navigate conversations with youth on this topic.

Working with Faith Leaders in EM Projects
Breakout | 1:30 – 2:45 pm
Presenters: Alana Blum and Sierra Schnitzer, Jewish Women International
Description: This breakout session will equip participants with tools to engage men and boys of faith communities and religious organizations in their efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. The workshop will feature interactive activities and tasks that provide participants with a structured approach to understanding religious demographics in their service areas, establishing and documenting relationships with faith leaders, and conducting targeted outreach to engage men and boys of faith as allies in their gender-based violence prevention initiatives.

Building a Youth Advisory Board
Plenary Session | 3:00 – 4:30 pm
Presenters:  

  • Ashley Auman, CAPSA
  • Jay Bates, YAC & formerly CAPSA participant  
  • Nallely Castro Montoya, Esperanza United 
  • Paris Juarez, YAC & former Esperanza United participant 
  • Matthew Osuna Senn, YAC & former Esperanza United participant 
  • Jessie Urban, CHASS 
  • Daniela Robles-Hernandez,  former CHASS youth participant & current staff
  • Maddie Allred, YAC Member & First youth & prevention intern at Turning Point 

Description: Building a youth advisory board is a great way to meaningfully incorporate youth feedback throughout your projects while also investing in young people’s leadership development. In this session you will hear from an existing CYEM grantee who demonstrates positive Grantee and Youth relationships through their CYEM project and youth advisory board work.

Day 3 – Thursday, November 16, 2023

 

Youth and Online Spaces
Plenary Session | 9:00 – 10:00 am
Presenter: Megan Challender, Network for Victim Recovery DC 
Description: Network for Victim Recovery DC provides legal support and advocacy to youth survivors of dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. Knowing that technology creates a host of opportunities for potential harm, NVRDC offers training to help adult allies identify potential harm at the intersections of youth and online spaces. In this session, they will share tips for navigating online harm among youth and opportunities for service providers to support and respond. 

Grantee Spotlight: Engaging Men
Breakout | 10:20 – 11:25 am
Presenters: Vanessa Helbig Johnson, Garrett Lee, and Corey Piel, YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee  
Description: This session led by EM Grantee YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee and their project partner will focus on maintaining and meaningfully incorporating your project partner throughout your CYEM award and beyond. This session will highlight strategies this partnership has used when building and maintaining sustainable partnerships, including how to address growth areas to support project partners.

Grantee Spotlight: Children & Youth
Breakout | 10:20 – 11:25 am
Presenters: Bethany Balady and Ashley Auman, CAPSA
Description: This session led by CAPSA, a CY grantee, will focus on how grantees can leverage community and grant partnerships to support youth in their community. As grantees consider the long term sustainability of their CY projects, they can learn from this grantee on how to build on existing work to expand or deepen their future projects using continuation funds. 

Centering Relationships to Cultivate Care: Reflection and Appreciation & Closing
Plenary Session | 11:45 am – 1:00 pm
Presenter: The Serving Our Youth TA Team
Description: This closing presentation will focus on the importance of fostering meaningful connections and relationships with young people and each other as a leading strategy for designing a new path forward when addressing the VAWA Crimes impacting youth. In this session, presenters will lead the group through a facilitated process of reflection and appreciation and will close with the voices of young people.

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