The Rural Youth Catalyst Project and JFF invite you to a livestream discussion series May 17 and May 26th: “More than Credentials: Apprenticeship Opportunities for Rural and Native Youth”
Learn how to participate in our LGTBQ+ Rural Youth Love Note project and submit your own!
Kim Phinney, co-founder of The Rural Youth Catalyst Project, shares a story of family and finding love. This essay is part of the Love Notes to LGBTQ rural youth series. Learn how to send your own.
Rural young people may be eligible for up to $1,500 if they file their tax returns because of EITC tax credit expansions. Learn more and how to help.
Youth voting rights experts share five ways you can support the youth vote — and help fulfill the promise of the 26th Amendment.
In recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the 26th Amendment as another landmark piece of Civil Rights legislation, the Rural Youth Catalyst Project is excited to partner with CIRCLE’s Youth Expertise Series: Fulfilling the Promise to offer the voices and perspectives of rural young people. This week we bring you the voice of Garrett Blaize.
Kalispell, MT high school senior Opal Bespaw believes every young person should be excited and empowered to vote. But how do we foster this excitement? By taking purposeful steps to reach out to young voters and involving schools and the media. Register for our livestream to talk more about how to get young people voting in rural places.
Frankie Edwards reflects on voting and making sense of your own democratic power in rural America as we approach the 50th anniversary of the 26th amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
The passage of youth voting rights was a critical piece of civil rights legislation. Join us for an intergenerational panel discussion with rural leaders as we reflect on the historical significance and current fight to fulfill the promise of the 26th Amendment.
In my family and community, we care for one another and that is just a part of life. There is no such thing as individuality in my family. No matter what I do in life, it would always circle back to my family. My actions, successes, and failures will always be not only a reflection of myself but of where I come from. Everyone that had a hand in raising me, taught me what I needed to know to ensure that I was brought up in a way of wanting to contribute to something that was bigger than myself.
As part of the April 2021 Rural Assembly Everywhere Event, the Rural Youth Catalyst Project (RYCP) hosted a breakout session with rural youth development practitioners from across the country. Kathy Moxon, RYCP Co-Founder offers her reflections from that conversation.
Young Rural Poets Share Their Work This spring, the Rural Youth Catalyst Project invited rural young people from across the country to submit their poetry in response to our theme “My American Dream: Borderlands and Belonging.” The borderlands are physically present across race, ethnicity, culture, gender, gender identity and sexuality, class, disability, or any other identity. Living in the borderlands can bring connectedness when we are able to shrink those differences in our communities but it can also bring the challenges of feeling like an outsider, facing fear of isolation, discrimination, and hatred as we carry our identities and try to navigate the borderlands of difference. We asked young people to reflect
My American Dream: Borderlands and Belonging This past fall, the Rural Youth Catalyst Project announced our partnership with PBS American Portrait: A National Storytelling Project. Utilizing themes from the American Portrait Project, we asked rural young people from across the country to respond to our prompt “My American Dream: Borderlands and Belonging,” which sought stories about the meaning and pursuit of the American dream and the obstacles people face as they strive to make their dreams come true. This week we share the voices of three young adults and community leaders from Alamosa, Colorado: Eliasa Chavez, Garrett Pearson, and Katy Plumb.
Aiden Wolf, a high school student in Athena, Oregon, shares what growing his hair long taught him about his family and heritage.
As part its collaboration with the PBS American Portrait initiative, The Rural Youth Catalyst Project asked rural young people from across the country to respond to the prompt “I was raised to believe…” This week, we are pleased to share the the voice and experience of Opal Besaw, a high school junior in Kalispell, Montana.
What is your perspective on the American Dream? How have your experiences of borderland and/or belonging shaped your own sense of the American dream or for your family, or your community?
The Rural Youth Catalyst Project asked rural young people from across the country to respond to the prompt “I was raised to believe…” Over the next few weeks, we are excited to share their submissions. This week we start with the responses that we received from Raychel Kool and Franklin Edwards, along with a Daily Yonder essay by RYCP co-founder, Kim Phinney, as they share their lived experiences of growing up LGBTQ in rural America.
Raychel Kool bought into the idea that narrative that queer people can only be happy in big cities, but learned it is possible to embrace a rural upbringing.
Frankie Edwards believed he did not belong in a rural community. He shares how he came to reject that belief, and how paintings by his late uncle played a part.
