VISION + MISSION
Our vision is for all youth to define their own life.
+
Our mission is to develop diverse young leaders through access to unique leadership opportunities that amplify their agency, impact their community, and shape their future.
WE DO THIS BY:
Providing accelerated leadership development through travel and local civic engagement experience aimed at addressing the opportunity gap for BIPOC teenagers and their communities.
OUR PROGRAMS
Unity Through Arts
Art is a way of expressing the times, needs of community, and voices of individuals. Through public art projects with community members, our fellows share power and perspectives through what they create. Projects in this sector include developing murals, digital magazine publication, community art exhibits and documentary film. Partners include Color Outside the Lines, Metro East Media, Salomée Souag, and diverse local artists.
Our Naturehood
A relationship with the natural world and access to clean air, clean water and green spaces is essential for all communities. These community projects range from habitat restoration, to park clean ups and community gardening. Our partners include Oregon Wild, Forest Park Conservancy, Jacobsen Salt Co. Beekeeping Program and Camp Yoshi.
Global Leadership
International opportunities for service-learning trips abroad allow our youth to put their social-advocacy leadership model into action, all while learning language and absorbing new cultures. Our youth travel to collaborate with community advocates and stakeholders across the world to build projects for lasting community impact. We partner with Global Works Travel, PBC, to spearhead these projects.
OUR PROCESS
MENTOR
We match young adults with mentors within their community.
After being selected as a Wonderfolk fellow, our youth participate in an 8 month mentoring program. We know that engaging in a host community should be undertaken with the utmost consideration. We prepare youth to think about community-based service as collaborative, mutually beneficial engagement, both at home and abroad. Many youth fellows are leaving home for the first time. Before traveling, we identify community challenges that persist globally, discuss cultural sharing, and learn about the culture of our host-communities. Our mentorship explores identity politics and the unique strengths and resiliences that our youth have. We equip our youth to enter their host community with conscientiousness, cultural humility and an attitude of learning and service. They return home with this same attitude to engage locally in service projects. We seek mentors who want to connect with youth leaders, share their passions and engage in work centered through a racial equity lens.
TRAVEL
We provide fully funded scholarships so youth can participate in an international travel program centered on community engagement and service.
While abroad, our youth stay with host families in communities where Global Works Travel, our partner organization, has decades of long-lasting relationships. We engage in projects selected by the community alongside community partners. Our projects include working in health clinics, assisting in development projects, building community gardens, rebuilding schools, plumbing and housing, wildlife conservation work, participating in community celebrations, and engaging in public art projects.
SERVICE
We engage young adults in service-learning experiences at home and abroad through collaboration with community partners to broaden our reach.
Civic engagement is woven into the essential fabric of thriving communities. Our youth fellows engage in service-learning opportunities in a community abroad and bring their newfound leadership skills back home. The work continues in the places where our youth live, learn and play. We work with local partners to continue to root our motivated youth in our community through projects that create positive impact in the areas of Unity Through Arts, Our Naturehood and Community Health.