At Hope, young leaders are making major contributions towards change in their community. This year, Hope served as the Southside host for PeaceJam, a worldwide movement that brings young people together with Nobel Peace Laureates to take on issues facing the planet.
South Minneapolis Youth Lead Community Peace-Building Effort
A peace-building initiative led by youth in South Minneapolis received the support of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchú Tum of Guatemala. On April 24 and 25, Hope youth joined over 600 youth to promote peace at the annual midwest PeaceJam conference. PeaceJam brings young people together with Nobel Peace Laureates to take issues facing the planet. This year, Hope served as the Southside host for PeaceJam. With partners youthrive and the University of Minnesota, a planning team of 20 youth and eight adults from South Minneapolis have been meeting weekly since October 2009 at Hope to shape plans for an ongoing peace effort, including the April 24 service project, using Menchú’s theme of “Healing Communities Torn by Racism and Violence.”
Andrew Hopkins, a Hope staff member says, “PeaceJam is a youth- driven planning process and we are extremely proud of that.” Leading up to the conference, youth at Hope (ages 9-14) participated in a special 10-week PeaceJam curriculum that integrated three ideas: education, inspiration and action. The Hope girls group created a collage with artist, Keiona Cook that communicated the positive and negative impacts of choices. The Hope documentary arts group filmed the entire PeaceJam process with filmmaker Sherine Crooms. The theme of peace spoke loudly to youth and it showed as they kicked off PeaceJam weekend with an unveiling of their work to family, friends and community members.
On April 24 youth convened at Hope to participate in service learning projects and raise their voices for peace with community members across South Minneapolis. Community service projects included, developing a mural near Chicago and 25th Street about the importance of participating in the U.S. Census, a community fair including a food drive, an art sale with half of the proceeds going to the local community food shelves and half to Haitian earthquake relief efforts, producing PSA’s that promote peace, and creating and distributing flyers that communicated a call to end violence.
During the two-day PeaceJam conference, young people presented an overview of service projects they are undertaking today in their own communities. Youth also attended workshops focused on PeaceJam’s Ten Global Calls to Action, developed by Nobel Laureates working with the PeaceJam Foundation. The Call to Action encourages young people to carry out one billion acts of peace in the next 10 years. Since its launch in 1996, more than 600,000 youth have participated in the PeaceJam program creating and implementing almost one million service projects.
Rodrigo Juarez, an 18-year-old South Minneapolis resident and youth co-chair of the planning team said, “PeaceJam was a positive opportunity for youth to impact the community in a very powerful way.” For Hope, this peace-building initiative sparked new young leadership that will continue to bring people together to create change in their community.
Rigoberta Menchu Tum – the PeaceJam 2010 Nobel Laureate.
Menchú Tum, a Mayan Indian from Guatemala, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for her work in social justice and the rights of indigenous peoples. In 1996, all of Menchú Tum’s non-violent work helped lead to a peace accord in Guatemala, ending the country’s 36-year civil war and giving many rights back to the Mayan people. Menchú Tum continues to work for justice and peace for her people and all indigenous people worldwide. She is the youngest woman and the only indigenous person to ever win the prize.
