Food justice, immigration politics and sexual identity are some of the topics of discussion at a conference that aims to foster youth empowerment and community activism.
The first annual East Side Stories: Youth Transformation Across Los Angeles will be hosted by a collective of youth and educators this Saturday, June 9 at Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights.
High school students from different areas of Los Angeles will present workshops that focus on work and research they’ve completed as part of school clubs and organizations while community artists and organizers will also participate in a lunchtime session.
“This conference is put together by radical educators and youth, who have a love for justice, youth and community,” said Jorge Lopez, a social studies teacher at Roosevelt and member of Politics and Pedagogy, the collective organizing the conference.
Lopez adds the collective came together with the understanding that “educational spaces can be settings where through critical pedagogy and political education can empower minds, which can inspire action and transformation for social justice.”
Along with other youth organizers from the Community Rights Campaign, Roosevelt High School senior Rene Ayala will be presenting a “Know Your Rights” workshop and will also be the master of ceremonies for the event.
“I hope that the Eastside Conference is very youth led and youth based. I know that everyone will get something out of it”¦with the variety of workshop topics, there is something for everyone,” said Ayala.
Although this will be the first conference held by multiple schools at Roosevelt, last Wednesday, juniors and teachers from the Roosevelt Magnet Academy held the second annual service learning conference called “East Side Stories: Exploring Immigration & Gender.” Students, teachers, parents and other visitors attended a variety of workshops throughout the campus and heard a powerful keynote address by UCLA Labor Center Director Kent Wong.
Participants at this Saturday’s conference include the Youth Justice Coalition, the Coalition for Educational Justice, the Rosemead High School Gay Straight Alliance, the Dream Resource Center, the Labor/Community Strategy Center, Watts Youth Collective, the Black Male Youth Academy and the UCLA IDEA Council of Youth Research.
Event info:
Roosevelt High School
456 South Matthews Street
Los Angeles, CA 90033
8:00am -2:30 pm
