Our annual boot camp for the Youth Neighborhood Engagement team was organized by A Beautiful Safe Place in February. The majority of our team is made up of Black youth, ages 15 to 18, who attend high schools in the South End of Seattle, located in Rainier Beach. We also had the pleasure of five additional youth who were interested in our organization and wanted to gain a better understanding of our work in the neighborhood.

 

Our boot camp included the information and workshops from our safety surveys, as well as potential solutions to some of the persistent problems in the Rainier Beach neighborhood that our community members would like to see an attempt to fix.

 

The youth also received training in citizen journalism, safety surveying, and neighborhood beautification—including gardening, litter picking, and reporting graffiti to find and fix it. Additionally, we emphasized the importance of utilizing the resources we provide. In terms of the resources we offer, we also conducted workshops and discussions regarding our seasonal farm stand and how we may better serve our neighborhood.

 

Because food sovereignty is a need that everyone should have access to, this includes how we should set up and ensure that we are present for the community. 

 

Overall, this space allowed for connectedness, hope, and faith, which are our team’s themes this year.

 

Best,

 

Safiyat Bayo

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