Monsoon held its 6th annual Summer School of Youth Activism on Monday, June 10, through Thursday, June 13, at First Unitarian Church in Des Moines. The free training for Central Iowa students, incoming grades 7th through 12th , covered leadership skills and community organizing. Topics ranged from the history of social justice movements to different forms of feminism and from analyzing patriarchy to naming oppressions of all forms. Participants also displayed their skills by writing, editing and producing a PSA video on respecting gender pronouns. Watch it here:
The 2019 Summer School of Youth Activism was attended by 25 registered youth participants and six Monsoon youth interns, all between the ages of 12 and18. Three members from AF3IRM-LA Chapter facilitated the summer school. The attending students represented more than 17 communities, including African-American, Arab, Caucasian, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Jewish, Korean, Latinx, Laotian, Nepali, Somali, Tai Dam, Thai and Vietnamese as well as other bi-cultural populations. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ communities were also represented.