February Trip Workshops

This past week our brigade has worked on multiple workshops to talk about and find solutions to social injustices.

Everyone was asked to write the issues that the Lower Ninth Ward is facing.

 These are the issues that we came up with and lines were drawn to connect them all together.

Sitting at the table discussing the problems as a group!

February Trip 2012- Day 1

February Trip 2012 Day 1 Highlights

 We started our morning with daily chores on the farm!

 Watering bone marrow mix to help the soil!

 Going on a tour of the farm with Jamie!

 Inside the greenhouse looking at sprouts and other vegetables that OSBG sells.

Food Justice Summer 2011

This summer NY2NO has been hosting service learning brigades to New Orleans. Students engage in transformative workshops, participate in farm work, and take part in community building to obtain a critical analysis of the issues that exist in New Orleans, New York, and globally, and effective ways of combating them as youth. Below are some highlights:

Participants take in the Levee Tour as they approach the Levee along the Industrial Canal

A student reflects on the lack of development in the Lower 9th Ward

Our School at Blair Grocery (www.osbgnola.org) staff members Nathanael and Andrew make silk-screened t-shirts with a special logo for the students of their JOB1 summer program and the New York volunteers

The web created after our Food Justice workshop that defines the many issues that growing food can combat

A student selling OSBG produce at the Farmer's Market in St. Bernard's Parish

NY2NO, OSBG and SBU (www.sistasandbrothasunited.org) students cook together to make dinner.

2011 Northeastern Food and Justice Summit

On the weekend of February 25th, 5 of us traveled to Boston to represent NY2NO at the 2011 Northeastern Food and Justice Summit! While there, we facilitated two workshops, networked with other young people from across the east coast, and even gave a speech to the whole summit!

            Ways to Make Change: Examining Effective Discourse While Fostering Youth Empowerment
                 Organizers Katelyn Montalvo and Alex Goldman facilitating Ways to Make Change.

                       Choices: How Our Everyday Choices Further the Food Justice Movement
                           Organizers Adaobi Onunkwo and Max Bowens facilitating Choices.

Organizer Katelyn Montalvo sharing her experiences with the summit! 

After traveling from New Orleans to Boston, back to New York, we made a lot of potential partnerships, and plan to start working with several organizations based in New York with GYO!

NY2NO February Trip 2011!

NY2NO just had its 2011 February Trip! Over the course of the week we worked with Will Allen and the rest of the Growing Power Crew, developed our analysis of issues that exist in New Orleans and New York, and worked on the farm. Throughout the series of workshops, readings, and activities that we did, we followed one essential question: How can/will we use food as a vehicle for youth empowerment, fostering a critical political analysis, and social change? 

        Morning introduction to a day of workshops, networking, and manuel labor with Growing Power!

Building a new hoop house with Growing Power.

                                                            Compost pile at OSBG!

Learning how we can utilize social media to effectively fundraise, gain support, and network with Mud

Crystal preparing the farmer's market during Growing Power's visit. 

Guiding Questions: Levee Tour Debrief 

1) How do the inequities that exist in New Orleans connect to each other? 

2) How do systems of oppression work together? 

3) What is a system and how do we define it? 

4) How do systems disempower us as young people? 

We ended the week discussing our goals for when we return to New York. How can we effectively stay involved in service-learning and organizing around urban food justice and youth empowerment in New York City? This Sunday, we are hosting Growing Youth Organizers to begin working on a number of outreach projects, fundraising efforts, and also refining our curriculum in preparation for Food Justice Summer Part II!

February 2011 Student Meeting

Today we had our first student meeting for February Trip. We started off with a warm-up and community building activity: the human knot.

We concluded the meeting with a short discussion on the importance of fundraising, and why non-profits must fundraise so heavily. We then made the connection to NY2NO and OSBG, and came up with a few fundraisers we are going to do together as a group, including an art show, photo shoot, and flea market. 

We will hold our next meeting next weekend to follow-up on delegations, hold an introduction into the service-learning we will participate in this February. 

Growing Youth Organizers!

GYO has been gradually developing and we are now completed with the intros to organizing. Recently we looked at "what does it mean to be a good facilitator", and explored some parallels to facilitation and community organizing. Some of the points we looked at were:

-Flexibility- the willing to change
-Being constantly aware of the group
-How to steer the energy of the group
-How to encourage people to push farther with their analysis

We are now going to start the training of youth organizers in GYO to prepare for upcoming brigades in February, April, and the Summer