This year’s Young Leaders in Action (YLA) cohort consists of 20 students from 12 schools across the Portland metro area. All YLA meetings and activities will take place on Zoom and will include intercultural activities, leadership skills trainings, local and international guest speakers and planning and implementing an Action Project. 

The mission of WorldOregon to engage Oregonians with the world lays the foundation for the 2020–2021 Young Leaders in Action theme: Reckoning with Racial Justice— Exploring local reconciliation processes through a global lens.  

This year’s YLA students will delve into examples, both past and present, of reconciliation processes from other parts of the world, such as South Africa, Rwanda, Cambodia, Columbia, and Ireland as a means to contextualize the local policy demands of Reimagine Oregon that seek to address systemic racial justice issues in our education, housing, healthcare, and justice systems.

Students will learn how citizens and politicians, from the grassroots to international tribunals, in their own community and in countries far away from Portland, grapple with issues of racial justice that are currently close to home. YLAs will then take what they have learned from local and global leaders and create an Action Project that will have a positive impact on their community. 

Stay tuned for more developments from this fantastic cohort of passionately engaged Young Leaders in Action!