A Weekend of Joy, Reflection, and Strategic Planning!
Last weekend, we had our annual full coalition retreat at Hulbert Outdoor Center in Fairlee, VT. About forty youth and adults invested in the coalition came together to reflect on the past and plan for the future.
One of the goal’s at last year’s full coalition retreat was to have youth present at the next one. This year, we had twelve youth dreaming and scheming with us! The three youth facilitators for last year’s Summer Social Justice Camp opened the retreat with a series of fun relationship building activities. We grounded ourselves in the coalition’s values and history. We evaluated our current political moment locally, nationally, and globally and discussed how it’s impacting Vermont schools. We used this grounding to strategically vision plans for the next year and beyond.
We spent time orienting coalition members to our new conflict process which our Relational Care Crew has spent eight months generating with the help of consultants from Harmonize. We hope that the way we handle conflict can be an example for schools and other organizations. We plan to provide community workshops to introduce our conflict process and make it widely available.
We also rested and connected through dancing, yoga, karaoke, playing board games, going on walks around Lake Morey, jewelry-making, napping, and creating zen gardens. We even got to celebrate our dear friend, Wafic’s birthday with a surprise! During our closing, one youth expressed how the retreat space gives her the strength and grounding to re-enter a challenging racial climate at school and continue to work towards change.
