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<h1 style="
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color: #000;">Mirror, Fire, and Laughter: Reflections on the YouthBank Training</h1>
<p class="byline">By Christen Pentek </p>
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<p class="summary" style="
color: #000;">"Training creates a new way of thinking, of opening the tough spaces within ourselves and coming through peaceful mediations."</p>
<p>We each learn life at our own pace and in our own way. Some of us learn through doing, others through hearing, still others through seeing. Training creates a new way of thinking, of opening the tough spaces within ourselves and coming through peaceful mediations.</p><p>YouthBank Minnesota remains in the early stages. With most new things, we will inevitably take a couple steps in uncertain directions. I grew up with the mantra: the way you practice is the way you perform. I think YouthBank will work this way too; not everything will be perfect the first time around, and that is okay. YouthBank as an idea is about drawing on resources that are often neglected by our own cultural blind spots and dominant narratives. We talk about worth, not only money.</p><p>Grant making is complicated. By approaching funding from a community and issues stance we created an empowering atmosphere, particularly on getting the ideas right. ‘No’ does not mean forever, just ‘no, for now.’ Change takes practice, and we need to revisit the soul of what we do often. However, we can continue to generate hopeful spaces, dedicating weekends to worthwhile projects, and creating life learning that rises beyond our individual expectations. I want to be one of the creators of more spaces for emerging leaders.</p><p>The magic carpet is one of my new treasures, a rectangle of tape in the middle of the meeting floor. To me this delineated a space for a dance party, and I wondered why people gathered our first evening around the edges conversing after completing the activities on the walls. In short minutes, everyone was invited into the floor. From flying machines to panel interviews, models created stages to play and discuss issues that we face directly and in abstraction every day in our community. My appreciation for the sticky walls also grew, building models that morph and change physically as the ideas change. I continue to open inviting spaces for greater participation from young people, questioning how involved their voices, knowledge, and experiences can be.</p><p>I take away daily devices that help conceptualize complex topics. Mirroring duplicates the dance that we see others perform well. Every day we mirror actions, words, and theories in our own ways. Mantras and games help too, such as repeated songs, phrases, or images that remind us of our purpose. Our cultural fabric surrounds us all the time, and if we, community representatives, seek to embolden all the people in our communities, we need to draw on these narratives. My story is not authored by me alone, but in the context of the world. We all edit each other’s stories, asking for help. We are stronger together than each of us alone. If we are to envision a new way, we must be vigilant of the old narratives. </p><p>Our questions, as well as many others, were encouraged. We celebrated mystery and explained when we could. I now find myself questioning if each rule is worthwhile, and where the rule is not effective, I ask for a better one. Embrace the unknown. Embrace possibility. We maybe do not have all the answers, but that does not mean we should not ask the questions. </p><p>I found myself facing questions I could not answer. For example, why am I here? I had been informed of the training by multiple sources, and it took me a day of training to figure out which organization wanted me to claim their allegiance. We begin and end in the community. Why not remain an engaged community member the whole way through? Works are stronger than words, and allegiances often matter to young people, proving that we are worth it to show up and be present to each other’s needs. This opportunity to focus purely on the play and learning invigorated me. I entered as a community member, and in this I had the opportunity for the theory of YouthBank to unite with my actions. </p><p>Celebrate along the way. Life is intense: we feel things, we embody things, and we carry stress everywhere with us. Mostly we try to be over 100% there, wherever ‘there’ is. We remember that we are enough. YouthBank has the potential to create spaces to experiment with new ways of singing, dancing, learning. We can create stages to listen to the way things are done, as well as what is being done. </p><p>For me, the intentionality of the workshops brought density to learning. Each piece flowed into the next, creating a continuous vibe of exploration and reflection with fresh concentration on another step in the process. In training, so too in life. What are you going to do with this moment? Do not allow yourself to leave disappointed.</p><p>The next steps for our group is to set out a more specific calendar of who is learning what, and when. We do know that the community will be involved the whole way through, and we continue to seek with listening ears the voices that are not at every table.</p><hr id="horizontalrule"><p><img src="/uploads/551c2fb3bd5a3.png" style="width: 198px;"> </p><p>3In partnership with YouthBank International, <a href="http://www.youthprise.org/">Youthprise</a> is excited to be bringing an innovative youth
philanthropy model to the United States. Starting with eight pilot sites in 2015,
Youthprise is building a statewide network of youth-led grantmaking entities in
Minnesota. Together, we are co-creating a US-based approach for replication
statewide and beyond.</p>
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