Communities for Resilience - Map Your Future Project

Join us in launching this exciting new program!
Contact -
* Program Director Kirsten Schwind [kirsten@baylocalize.org] [510-834-0420]
*  If you work with a youth group in the Bay Area and would like to collaborate on developing and testing this program, contact [corrine@baylocalize.org]
* "Map Your Future" Blog [baylocalize.org/communities-for-resilience/program-news/map-your-future-blog]:


"Our Vision for 2013: Map Your Future Project"
2013-05-21 message from Bay Localize:
[baylocalize.org/map%20your%20future%20project]:
In 2013, Bay Localize is excited to launch the Map Your Future Project to prepare young adult job seekers (age 18-25) to find their first jobs in building local climate resilience.
The project trains youth to document efforts to prevent and prepare for the local impacts of climate change that also create job opportunities, and map them on online. The project captures the stories of what kind of investment and policy change it would take to ramp these efforts up to create even more jobs. Youth leverage this research process to explore job opportunities and build professional networks to build careers serving their community.
Bay Localize is partnering with youth organizations around the Bay Area to host trainings to prepare their members to become resilience mappers. Trainings also feature a special emphasis on low-income communities of color and low-income youth with barriers to employment (e.g. no high school diploma, history of incarceration, at-risk), who suffer the highest rates of unemployment.
Youth mappers will be trained in:
* Impacts of climate change locally and what we can do about it.
* Identifying community efforts that are building climate resilience.
* Interview and research skills.
* Following up on job opportunities they are interested in.
Based on the research findings from our mappers, we will develop action recommendations to ramp up local resilience jobs and livelihoods in the Bay Area. Bay Localize will document training curriculum, web tools, and program methodology for replication worldwide.


"Communities for Resilience: Map Your Future with Ma'at Youth Academy"
2013-09-17 update from Corrine at Bay Localize:

We're excited to announce that Bay Localize recently tested our Map Your Future curriculum with the outstanding Ma'at Youth Academy (ages 16-21).  The curriculum was very well received by the youth, who were eager to bring their lived experience, knowledge, passion and innovative ideas to the table.
Our vision for the Map Your Future project is to make it easy for local planners and community organizations, especially youth groups, to work together to map out community resilience assets.
Our test curriculum with Ma'at began with introducing the concepts of "Climate Impacts" and "Vulnerable Communities" and had youth map out relevant examples in Richmond. We then shifted to concepts of "Climate Resilience," "Climate Action" and "Assets," which had them identify some of the solutions to address climate impacts and vulnerabilities.  Each of the youth performed a skit on the climate solution of their choice, mapped out assets, and identified jobs that would be created as a result of investment. We wrapped things up with a letter from each youth to a decision maker about their recommendations to address climate change, how they are impacted, and how they'd like to be involved. "The skits helped me think critically about what needs to be done, " expressed one of the youth.


2013-08-15 update from Corrine at Bay Localize:
What an amazing day with the youth at Ma'at Academy. We sought out to test our Map Your Future curriculum, and needless to say we were blown away by the consciousness, knowledge, passion and innovative ideas that these youth (ages 16-21) brought to the table.
Over the course of several weeks this summer, these youth learned about the history of Richmond, CA, wetland ecosystems, watershed, landuse planning, changes in global average surface temperature, food justice, environmental justice and climate justice. Walking into the room I found myself not only inspired by what they knew, but the urgency in their presence to want to do something about it to improve their communities. For most of these youth, there was no question that climate change is real. They along with their families and communities feel the impacts of limited access to clean air and water, healthy food, transportation, housing and jobs.
We began by introducing the concepts of "Climate Impacts" and "Vulnerable Communities" and had them map out relevant examples in Richmond. We then shifted to concepts of "Climate Resilience," "Climate Action" and "Assets," which had them identify some of the solutions to address climate impacts, vulnerabilities, how to make them better, and think about alternatives.  Each of the youth performed a skit on the climate solution of their choice, mapped out assets and identified jobs that would be created as a result of investment. "The skits helped me think critically about what needs to be done, " expressed one of the youth.
As we wrapped things up for the day, we asked the youth to take action by writing a letter to a decision maker about their recommendations to address climate change, how they are impacted and how they'd like to be involved.