We Invited Young People to Lead a Funder Retreat. Here’s What We Learned
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The Inaugural Black Women (EM)Power Building Retreat. Photo by Andres Herrera.
In the closing days of Black Philanthropy Month, the annual commemoration of Black donors, philanthropists and social impact investors, a group of 40 Black women funders, entrepreneurs, scholars and activists convened for a weekend in Laguna Beach, California, to discuss strategies for resourcing and empowering young Black women and girls. Our goal was to facilitate a collective brain trust around the development of a year-long fellowship initiative that would provide Black girls with something many of them seldom receive—rest and restoration. What we discovered and unearthed in the process exceeded any of our expectations.
As a youth activist and as a national mentoring expert and former youth development trainer, we often speak to organizations about the value and importance of centering youth voices, advocating for innovative approaches like recruiting young people for staff positions, inviting them to evaluate the organization’s programs and even to serve as board members. While in some cases, the reception is positive, some people respond almost incredulously, asking variations of the same set of deficit-based questions: “But what if they say the wrong thing to a funder?” or “What if our kids just aren’t polished enough?”
Often, such questions reveal that their own programs are not dealing with young people in ways that make space for them to realize and step into their true promise and potential. More urgently, it casts serious doubt on whether their mission is really about young people to begin with.
When our organization, the Youth Mentoring Action Network, opened its doors more than a decade ago, an intentional choice was made to operate from the baseline understanding that young people, especially those from marginalized backgrounds, must have the agency and input to decide how resources and services intended for them are allocated and delivered.
It was out of that same ethos that The Black Girls (EM)Power Fellowship was born, envisioned as an initiative to resource and reset the radical work of young Black women and girls from the ages of 15 to 25 through funding, providing access to an extensive network of Black women leaders. The fellowship will also create opportunities for rest and restoration to allow them time and space for regeneration and innovation.
Rather than just write another grant proposal to fund the initiative, it felt viscerally important that we actually bring Black women and girls together in person—a gesture made even more powerful in the age of social distancing—and model for and through them what the fellowship experience would look and feel like. As we brainstormed the idea of gathering influential Black women to help build, and ultimately fund, the national fellowship, it seemed only logical that Black girls themselves be the ones to plan and facilitate it. And so, the inaugural “Black Women (EM)Power Building Retreat” was born.
Led by a trio of dynamic youth activists, including Allyson Smith and Brea Baker, the day-and-a-half retreat created space for the adults in the room to hear first-hand what young people need from adults most, particularly those actively engaged in grant funding. Among the many critical insights shared were:
Donating space and resources is helpful—but donating funds is better. Many student activists are finding that as organizers, they are doing meaningful, impactful work that is time consuming and does not pay. Black girl activists’ access to capital is often minimal, thus making it harder to scale their impact as they strive to expand the work. Donating monetary resources is a way of helping to bridge those gaps for marginalized youth engaging in social justice work.
Young people welcome guidance from adults to answer the question, “What do you need?” Youth has always been at the forefront of progressive movements. Now, in the age of COVID and the rise of social media, it has become increasingly clear that young people look to the leadership and strategy of those who have come before them to inform their work, and they welcome guidance and mentorship to keep focused on the work that matters the most.
Create the space for young people to lead—then step out of the way. Youth are ready for a new era of leadership that redefines what it means to lead and wield influence. They also realize that a big part of learning leadership involves trial and error. Yet, far too many adults are unwilling to let go of center stage and pass the torch to the next generation. They hold on to power, take up space and are often too busy working to open up doors for the next generation without actually making sure young folks have the chance to walk through them. What they truly need are the platform and the capital that adults have spent their careers building up.
The experiences shared on the shores of Laguna Beach, and the brilliant Black women who participated, not only affirmed the fellowship concept itself, but inspired immediate action, including mentorship volunteering, regular giving to a Black Women’s Giving Circle, and a pledge to commit ongoing support for The Black Girl (EM)Power Building Fellowship. Further, and perhaps most importantly, the model and structure of the retreat epitomized an ethos that should lie at the heart of all youth-focused organizations: young people must have power and agency in helping to make decisions that will affect their futures.
This ethos is one that other leaders in philanthropy are already exemplifying, such as the Frieda Fox Foundation, which established a Junior Board in 2006 to provide youth with grantmaking experience and prepare them to be future organizational leaders. Or the Nellie Mae Foundation, which, through its Amplifying Youth Voices grant, partnered with young people to create a dedicated fund that would elevate and resource youth organizers.
As these organizations exemplify—and the young leaders at the retreat clearly articulated—these aren’t merely best practices, but social imperatives for all of us engaged in critical youth work. Young people have powerful lessons to teach and are more than capable of leading us. Ultimately, it is up to us whether or not we will let them.
Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan is Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of the Youth Mentoring Action Network and author of Critical Mentoring: A Practical Guide.
Zyahna Bryant runs the Black Girls (EM) Power work at The Youth Mentoring Action Network. She’s one of the architects behind Black Women Built This. She’s also a youth activist, history-maker and student at the University of Virginia.
