from
the DataCenter's Youth Strategy Project,
Environmental Justice Program
and Economic Justice Program,
Fall 2003
Building Youth Power
through Strategic Research
San Diego, Califas
This August 2003, DataCenter's Youth Strategy
Project was invited to give a training on strategic campaign
research for the Youth Action Network Summer Youth Organizer
Training series in San Diego, California. The series was
partially funded by a grant from California
Fund for Youth Organizing-a project of the Tides Foundation.
Participants consisted of youth organizers and youth leaders
from San Diego Youth Organizing Communities (SD YOC), Californians
for Justice-SD (CFJ), Environmental
Health Coalition (EHC), and the US-Mexico
Border Project of American Friends Service Committee
(AFSC).
San
Diego people of color border communities are on the frontlines
of militarization, globalization and free trade, environmental
and social injustices; young people of color in San Diego
are intensely involved in the struggle for social justice.
The intersection of issues created an unprecedented opportunity
for cross-team collaboration within Data Center; Youth Strategy
Project's Terry Marshall and ly-huong nguyen, Environmental
Justice program's miho kim and Economic Justice program's
Brenda Anibarro worked collectively to create a workshop
to fit the local organizing needs of Network members. DataCenter
trainers also rolled out in support with Network folks at
a San Ysidro border protest at yet another Border Patrol
slaying of an immigrant and la migra's refusal to
disclose any information on the incident and to be accountable
to the local 
community.
We also were on hand for the protest of the $1000-a-plate
Bush fundraiser at the San Diego Convention Center.
The interactive workshop built
on the skill sets of youth activists and organizers to do
effective campaign research, to understand how research
fits into a campaign, and think strategically about how
information can be used to further the goals of a campaign.
Workshop participants practiced these techniques through
games & activities. Break-out sessions allowed each
group to focus on three issue-specific strategic research
skills: border justice, environmental justice and educational
justice. Participants received packets full of research
tips and recommended sources for conducting activist research
on a wide variety of issues and learned more about the DataCenter
and how we can provide assistance to their local social
justice campaigns. By the end of the workshop, we were successful
in creating a positive and empowered approach towards research.
Border Justice
Brenda
(Economic Justice) facilitated a break-out session on 'Researching
Homeland Security'. Participants included youth and organizers
from AFSC and CFJ. The session included interactive games
on how to file public information requests using the Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) and understanding the structure
of the new Department of Homeland Security. The session
was geared for AFSC youth who are currently working on documenting
the actions of border patrol agents in their community.
Border Patrol agents frequently target immigrant youth throughout
South county by conducting raids at youth-frequented bus
and trolley stops.
Environmental Justice
The youth from EHC were mostly from Chula
Vista, an incorporated city in South Bay, where the pollution
from the Duke Energy-owned South Bay Power Plant has negatively
impacted the surrounding communities. Chula Vista suffers
from one of the highest asthma rates in the region. The
youth worked with miho kim (Environmental Justice) to come
up with a set of questions to build a corporate profile.
The group then worked on building a set of research questions
from campaign questions, and learned about resources that
provide answers and where and how to get them. The youth
plan to participate in a campaign for a cleaner and healthier
environment in Chula Vista where community members fully
participate in decision-making that affects their lives.
To this end, the SBPP's pollution and disregard for community's
health must be stopped. Nohelia Ramos, youth organizer with
EHC, says she is excited about using the hands-on practices
from the breakout session to find key information and use
it strategically to achieve their campaign goal.
Educational Justice
Youth Strategy Project's ly-huong & Terry
facilitated the breakout session on educational justice.
The workshop was tailored to the campaign of San Diego YOC.
SD YOC has just started a club/chapter at Sweetwater High
school and is working
on a campaign to install Ethnic Studies in local high schools.
The workshop was designed to show them the basic skills
of how to profile and do background checks on a campaign
target. These skills were considered to be the most relevant
to SD YOC’s campaign. The youth and facilitators discussed
the usefulness and importance of these skills: the strategic
advantages research provides a campaign, when it is proper
to use it, and how to know when to stop information gathering.
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What do you think of when you hear
the word research?
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BEFORE
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AFTER
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One the main things that the
youth got out of the workshop was the surprise and wonder
at how much information was out there and that they had
access to it once shown how. In this regard the workshop
was successful in its goal of helping demystify research
for young people.
**Xin cam on Shout-out to ly-huong's phamily who housed
us.**
all photos courtesy of miho kim.
