General Mission/Who We Are:
NY2NO is a youth led organization
established to create a network of young people who are interested in
organizing and mobilizing across New York City. NY2NO works in solidarity with
those most affected by the social, racial, and economic inequalities in both
New York, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. We break down barriers and
work together to combat racism and classism in the hopes of moving towards a
more egalitarian society.
A Brief History:
Although many NY2NO
organizers went on their first trips down to New Orleans with their schools,
the students realized that they wanted to create a coalition separate and free
from the usual administrative power of adults and that brought together youth
from across New York City. Following this demand NY2NO was formed as a student
organization under which trips to New Orleans could be organized. Now it has
become a network of New York City High School students interested in organizing
and mobilizing around the parallel struggles of New Orleans and their own
communities.
Trips:
Since the summer of 2007, we have
organized over 35 New Orleans brigades, bringing over 1000 high school students
back to New York with organizing skills, a greater understanding of the
injustices within America, and ideas about how they can create change and
combat these issues.
During the trips we do farm work alongside the employees of Our School at Blair
Grocery and youth from the Lower Ninth Ward. Some of what we have done in the
past includes composting, gutting houses, building fences, doing community
outreach, attending community meetings, planting, and cooking. In addition to manual labor, we create
and participate in workshops about a variety of issues including: racism,
classism, gender inequity, food injustice, environmental injustice, movement
building, and more. We explore these issues within New Orleans and then
continue to analyze them within our broader New York City communities.
How We Operate:
Whether it be in an
organizational meeting or in a debrief, NY2NO operates through consensus
decision-making in order to eliminate a minority of people who will be
displeased by a majority rule decision. This also encourages groups thinking
and feeling together in a free space called the People's Circle. NY2NO believes
that by using consensus they are creating a model of participatory democracy
and focusing on the constant forward process of the entire group. In order to
ensure that decisions are made by consensus, a member of the People's Circle
takes on the role of facilitator to mediate the emotions, decisions and
progress of the discussions. When a decision cannot be made because a group or
individual within the circle feels strongly enough to not stand aside on the
issue, the decision is discussed further until a consensus can be reached.
Fiscal Sponsor:
Interreligious Foundation for
Community Organization/Pastors for Peace is an ecumenical agency whose mission
is to help forward the struggles of oppressed peoples for justice and
self-determination and they are also NY2NO's wonderful Fiscal Sponsor. They
provide our 5o1c3 official non-profit status that enables us to receive tax
exempt donations, and they also facilitate our finances. IFCO/Pastors for Peace
have always been incredibly supportive of all of our visions and projects and without
them none of our work would be possible.
GYO:
In New York City we have created a group
called GYO, which stands for Growing Youth Organizers. Growing Youth Organizers is an
autonomous group of New York 2 New Orleans organizers engaging in reflective
dialogue and direct action. GYO is a program designed to enable the development
of students’ facilitation and organizing skills, as well as foster a deeper
critical analysis of issues in New York and New Orleans, though this program
focuses mostly on work within NYC. Students work together on tasks such as:
outreach proposals and projects, designing curriculum, planning fundraisers,
and refining structures of our service-learning brigades.
