Putting Peace First with Youth Lead Change 

Cover photo from the book Peace First, by founder Eric Dawson (Peace First via Key News)

BY PATRICIA WOODSON

Key News Contributor

Youth Lead Change is a new youth empowerment initiative supported by the Village and administered with help from the Key Biscayne Community Foundation. Peace First and Outward Bound are two global organizations, each dedicated to empathy-based youth leadership and teambuilding. On October 18th, from 6-8 p.m. at the Key Biscayne Community Center, representatives of Youth Lead Change will introduce a brand-new, first-time ever collaboration between Peace First and Outward Bound focusing on Key Biscayne kids.  All ages are welcome. To learn more, go to youthleadkb.org to register for a free workshop and/or to share youth-driven projects. 

What is a peacemaker? Being a peacemaker isn’t about what you do — it’s about who you are. Peacemakers stand out because they speak up for positive values and make commitments to help others. Peace First and Outward Bound both instill three values that characterize peacemakers and peacemaking projects: compassion, courage, and collaboration.  

Peace First is a global non-profit that believes young people are our most powerful resource to create a more just and peaceful world. Peace First maintains operations across more than 135 countries, recruiting, coaching, and distributing grants to young people working for peace and justice in their communities.

The free Peace First online platform supports young people in developing and implementing ideas to solve injustices with digital tools, caring adult mentors, and actual dollars. Our local Youth Lead Change program supports the Peace First platform with monthly mentoring workshops and enables participants to earn participation in North Carolina Outward Bound courses as Youth Leadership Awards.

For 50 years, North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS) has delivered challenging outdoor adventure programs based in experiential education to people of all ages and walks of life. These programs help individuals discover their strength of character, ability to lead, and desire to serve. Part of a national network of Outward Bound schools in the US and in 36 countries. NCOBS has basecamps in the Everglades, Florida’s central rivers, the mountains and coast of North Carolina and in Patagonia. 

Peace First has raised millions of dollars to make an unprecedented investment in young people’s power to lead change. Adults may tell young people they’re not ready to lead, but history — and the work young people are doing to change the world right now — shows us that’s not true. Young people have always been at the forefront of positive change, often and importantly seeing what’s needed before policy-makers even perceive the need. Peace First is committed to building a model of what shared intergenerational leadership looks like: where young people are trusted and valued partners in real work. Grants and both national and international symposia are available by application to young people using Peace First to create and grow programmatic initiatives.

By registering at PeaceFirst.org, young people ages 13-25 can find a host of resources to help them turn an issue they care about into a local project or a national movement. The Peace First Toolkit offers practical guides from national and internationally acclaimed young social entrepreneurs whose successful initiatives have addressed a huge variety of environmental, social and cultural issues.  

Initiatives can also be a part of campaigns, usually with a defined timeline, where young people can submit their ideas to be able to be part of a movement around a particular injustice or group of injustices. They will be supported by organizations that care about the types of injustices that are part of that campaign. Among current opportunities are Women’s March EMPOWER and Youth Innovation Challenge.

A documentary film will capture the growth of our young social entrepreneurs beginning Oct. 18 through 2020, when the program will also be offered to the young people of Liberty City. 

For more information, visit the websites above or contact: Patricia Woodson, pwoodson212@gmail.com or text 305-216-2752.