ONE BOLD WEEK: Exploring our Leadership Lab
Another bold week at Rainbow Labs and another bolder week of One Bold Summer!
This week, we were able to dive into our Leadership Lab, which explores the many sectors of community work, policy building, and overall leadership development. In short, a week-long crash course on how to make waves with the creative visions you embark on for causes that can lead to an everlasting impact—again, we're working with the next generation of LGBTQIA+ folks… WE NEED TO INSPIRE THEM SOMEHOW. And who better to leave inspirational sparkles for our youth to follow at the end of the rainbow than our Program Coordinator, BrandElsa Pereira!
After returning from a successful first week of programming, our Rainbow Labs youth were eager to make another trip to the LAB! Everyone’s creative sparkles were still flowing, and the highs of their imagination were still afloat and ready to be anchored in for a brand new week. And in short, our young leaders were ready to be led.
And what better way for them to lead than to take action on things that mattered to them—with a Shark Tank-style approach.
As a part of this week's curriculum, the youth learn about the functions of advocacy work and community organizing… and what better way to do that than have them create their own campaigns on issues and services that matter to them. And after a long week of preparation, they would present their campaigns to their peers, and at the very end, they would choose which campaigns to invest in—essentially adding a little playful competition!
As for Program coordinator BrandElsa Pereira, when conceptualizing the curriculum for the week, they had only one hope: “My hope for the OBS Youth this week is that they see how accessible advocacy can be and they feel empowered knowing that they can advocate for any issue that matters to them in a way that feels authentic to them,” Pereira said.
The youth worked in teams, and they immediately began conceptualizing their campaigns and the communities they would serve. Many of the projects tackled anti-immigration and aided families affected by ICE. Another focused on a financial literacy campaign for low-income families, and another on a teen center that would foster the growth and safety of LGBTQIA+ youth.
A lot of them really leaned into the experience and even met outside of OBS regular program hours to work on their projects, leading up to presentation day.
And as always, our last day of programming ended with a field trip, so we took our youth to SoCal club, a youth-focused community/wellness center based in both West Hollywood and South LA . We took our youth to the South LA location so they could see community work in action beyond what we do at the LAB. SoCal club LA offers many amenities and services in addition to its scheduled group meet-ups and events. They also offer sexual health services, including HIV testing, and even a bimonthly food bank for the community they serve.
And after a tour of their South LA location, our youth were able to use their space to present their campaigns!
Their findings were just as intentional as they were inspirational. Each of them spoke with passion and a whimsy that would have you stop, think, and lock into their words. In parallel with their campaigns, they also expanded their efforts to host events, marches, and music festivals that would raise funds for their causes. They also leaned into the production of their presentations, featuring chants, festival floor plans, and mock-ups of tickets and merchandise.
At the end of the presentations, the youth were able to vote for a winning team, even though the true win was that they all came together to create projects that would have a lasting impact on the communities that resonated with them. At the core of this week, we wanted to remind our youth of their capabilities as young people and that through finding their collective, anything is possible.
