Full House for Youth Lead Change Program Launch  

Pedro Luiz Balabuch Dal Bo explains his idea to make MAST a net-zero energy school. (Key News_Tim Gamwell)

BY TIM GAMWELL

Key News Contributor

The Island Room at the Key Biscayne Community Center was standing-room-only Friday night as several dozen young people showcased projects brimming with passion for social and environmental causes.

“You can feel the energy in the room,” said Patricia Woodson, program director. “The pride in the work they’ve done – it’s like the top is going to blow off.” 

Woodson’s Youth Lead Change is the first social entrepreneurship program on Key Biscayne. Friday’s event marked its launch as a platform to encourage “the power of young people to do incredible work and inspire innovative ideas.”

A dozen projects from 45 middle- and high-school students of MAST Academy, Gulliver Preparatory School, Immaculata-La Salle and others presented local solutions to climate change, hunger and homelessness. The program is a partnership with MAST, the Village of Key Biscayne, the Key Biscayne Community Foundation and national and international partners the North Carolina Outward Bound School and Peace First. 

Each presentation impressed. Whether it was 8th-grader Isabel Del Valle McGuinness and the 400 Halloween costumes she’s collected for children in Liberty City for her project Share the Boo!, or high school senior Pedro Luiz Balabuch Dal Bo’s passion for energy efficiency, each of the young people spoke with urgency and passion. 

Dal Bo spoke of trying to get MAST to produce as much energy as it generates by replacing high-consumption lightbulbs with more efficient LEDs and installing solar panels to increase MAST’s energy production.

“We can’t wait to act,” said MAST 8th-grader Luciana Valdovinos. “We have to act now and inspire others to act. We inherited these problems and will have to come up with solutions to make the world a place we can live in.”

After seven events in three days, including a six-hour bootcamp with Peace First, Woodson is exhausted but energized. “Entrepreneurial skills are part of the Peace First process to help them understand how to leverage organizational tools to take their passion, organize it and engage others,” she said. 

Her goals, however, are even higher.

Youth Lead Change has created a space for encouraging ongoing youth-led change in the community. In partnership with Peace First and Outward Bound, Woodson plans to continue building opportunities to empower youth. “Teens and college-aged youth are so exciting and full of potential, yet for all their power and inspiration, they are vastly underappreciated and undersupported.” 

This program seeks to change that by helping young people transform their ideas into action. 

Fish Stark, director of program implementation at Peace First, was thrilled. “Young people on Key Biscayne recognize there is a lot of privilege,” said Stark. “There was a lot of deep thinking about how to use their privilege to help others and address systemic injustice in their community.”

For those wondering how to get started, Stark said, “Build a team around you – find friends to connect with. Then reach out and combine efforts with those already doing the work in the community.” 

Youth Lead Change will continue with future sessions planned on Key Biscayne and scholarships for youth leaders to build confidence through a four-day canoe trip in Central Florida with the Outward Bound School.

“Young people deserve all our support without us imposing our own ideas,” says Woodson. “They’re the groundbreaking thought-leaders of tomorrow.”

For more information, see: https://www.kbcf.org/programs/youth-lead-change/