Why we are Excited to Have Savvy Young People Participate in our First Global Change Incubator
Posted by Anna Debenham, March 17, 2021
When I founded the Insight Alliance in 2016, we started by working with adults who were experiencing incarceration. First at a men's prison and then with women. There was no particular reason - that was just who we got to work with. I’d walk through any door that was open to us. To this day, I still love working with adults. Being one, I often find it easier in a way. It wasn’t until some of the men who took our program in prison would say, “Why has no one taught us this before? If I’d know this when I was younger, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be in prison. We need to work with the youth.” The more I heard that, the more I realized that was true for me too. If I’d understood my own mind when I was younger I could have avoided many of my more spectacular messes, and many of the smaller day to day ones too….
So, I became more curious about working with youth. The Oregon Youth Authority is a different animal than the Department of Corrections and so is a whole new system to navigate. But after a totally random conversation with a neighbor, I got a call from one of her friends who volunteered at MacLaren Youth Facility and she wanted to know more about what we did. Dots got connected and the rest is history. Doors opened for us and we started running groups at MacLaren through Hope Partnerships. It’s been an amazing journey, one that we continue to love every day. I’d never worked with youth in prison before, and not being a parent, I don’t think I was prepared. But we navigated it as best we could and I’m still learning (and still falling on my face), but there’s often humor and an abundance of willingness from the youth at MacLaren to learn and grow.
I’m feeling so inspired by so many of the youth that are coming through our programs and those we partner with at the IOS Collective. It’s strange to call them youth as some of them are young men. They are bright, insightful, and a lot of fun. They are paving the way for themselves and others to realize a very different, very positive future.
I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with DaJohn White and Prince Jammar who founded Rebels for Peace with One Solution in Chicago. Due to Zoom, they’re able to join us for some of our groups at MacLaren. They bring their wisdom and insight and the guys in the group love hearing from them. They speak the same language - one that I’m learning to understand, but honestly could never speak. Together, we share insights about how the mind works and how understanding this not only helps navigate the ups and downs of everyday life, but also helps them come up with innovative ways to help their communities.
Recently, we had two Insight Alliance participants from MacLaren get released and paroled here to Portland. They are brothers and friends and very inspiring young men with so much to offer. They will be joining us for The Global Change Incubator starting next week. Along with two other members of our team - Jarell Lambert and Mason Suehs.
What I love the most about helping birth the Global Change Incubator isn’t just the excitement I feel about finally bringing it to life; It’s in the participation, learning with everyone, sitting in the creative fire and seeing what arises out of it. It’s bearing witness to the amazing potential of everyone in the group and knowing the whole is always greater than the sum of the parts. Together, we will learn about why the mind is where change really starts.
The world is faced with many challenges now, from the climate to inequity, poverty, and injustice. We will get to create a space to muse, have fresh innovative ideas, and then bring to life creative projects in our various different cities, countries, and communities to address new possibilities for a more equitable world for all. I don’t know about you, but after the lockdown of 2020 I feel ready for this. Not only do we get to help lead this amazing adventure we get to collaborate with an impressive bunch of humans.
These are people of all different background with one thing in common - they want to look within to see how to create the change they want to see in the world. Together, over 9 months (from mid-March through December), we are going to explore how to shift minds, starting with our own, and expanding to our organizations and communities, to create lasting impact in the world. We will work together on projects, shadowing each other’s work, sharing case studies and curricula, learning from guest speakers, and direct one-on-one mentoring. Because of COVID, we’ll be doing this all virtually AND because this is all happening virtually, if you’re like me and are interested in looking deeper at the part the mind plays in all of our lives, you CAN!
Details from the IOS Collective team:
There are still a few spaces for full-program participants (includes shadowing opportunities, one-on-one development, and curricula access) or unlimited spaces available for self-guided virtual participants (this is my kind of documentary heaven- this basically means grab some popcorn and your beverage of choice as you get a front row seat to watch the Global Change Incubator from the comfort of your favorite chair and your investment helps to sponsor one of the change-makers with a partial or full scholarship.) Thanks Brooke and Mara for this clear description!
Here are videos of Tamarjay and Derrick talking about why they’re so excited about being part of this adventure:
