SAFIRE Campaigns
Stay tuned for information on Youth Organizing's 2012 Campaign
Past Campaigns
Gender, Bodies, Sexuality and Sex Education - Summer 2011
This summer we are excited to launch a New Young Mens Program for Asian men in High School. We will continue to have our exciting SAFIRE Summer Session. This summer focuses on gender, bodies, sexuality, relationships and sex education.
Young Mothers and the Criminal Justice System - Spring 2011
The SAFIRE Youth Program STANDS with YOUNG MOTHERS!
This Spring SAFIRE looked at the rights of pregnant and parenting teens, the criminalization of young women and the experience of young mothers in the criminal justice system. We collected stories from young mothers and their allies about what their families need and what makes the families strong. These stories will be an important part of ACRJ's Strong Families Initiative.
WATCH our Strong Families "Honoring Young Mamas" Music Video!
Check out pictures from the Young Families Celebration led by The Center For Young Women's Development on facebook here.
Climate Justice and Strong Families Story Collection Project: Fall 2010
During the Fall of 2010, SAFIRE continued their work for climate justice, making a direct connection to families and their experiences. SAFIRE leaders collected stories from youth across the Bay Area on how climate change impacts their families and how climate justice can strengthen their families. They created and led a workshop on Climate Justice and Families for 4 youth organizations: Asian Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership (AYPAL), Chinese Progressive Association's (CPA) youth program Common Roots, People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights' (PODER) youth program Building Youth Power and POWER's youth program Youth In POWER. As part of those workshops, they collected over 100 written and video stories from youth about climate change and their families which will become part of the Strong Families initiative story collection bank.
These workshops allow SAFIRE to connect with other youth organizations in the Bay Area, build facilitation skills and gain facilitation experience. The youth organizations we met with got an understanding of climate change and climate justice from their peers, which provided a different perspective from the dominant news, science and privileged perspective. They learned about climate justice as it relates specifically to immigrant, low-income families of color.
Strong Families Story Collection Project: Summer 2010
As part of the Strong Families initiative, SAFIRE leaders collected stories from their family members about their struggles, dreams, histories, accomplishments and what makes their families strong. They shared their stories with over 200 family, friends and community members through a multi-media presentation at the SAFIRE Summer Celebration. Each leader chose her own creative way of presenting their stories. Some shared poems, others created art pieces, the Lu sisters performed a puppet show, a couple SAFIRE girls made their own videos and Honnie choreographed a dance that represented her mother's struggles. Check out our video page to see some of these stories for yourself.
Here's what our leaders had to share about the story collection project:
"I got to know my parents in a whole new way."
"I never really talked to my grandfather. I asked him about his history and now I feel closer to him."
" These are stories that I will pass on to my own children so that they know where they come from."
Check out our video on SAFIRE's Summer 2010.
Climate Justice and Reproductive Justice in Oakland: 2008-2010
From 2008 to 2010, SAFIRE youth have been building their awarness around the intersection of reproductive justice and climate justice by exploring connections in our neighborhoods, where our families work, and how our schools support or hinder reproductive and climate justice. One theme that has risen to the top is the presence of toxic chemicals where we live, where our families work and where we go to school. SAFIRE youth have discovered that the same toxins that are harming our bodies, especially our reproductive health, are also contributing to climate change! To learn more about this intersection, check out ACRJ's Looking Both Ways: Women at the Crossroads of Reproductive Justice and Climate Justice.
In 2009, Oakland began a process of developing a climate action plan for the city. SAFIRE youth played a leading role to ensure that youth in Oakland were aware of the plan and could get involved, including the following:
- Designing and leading a teach-in for youth living in the Eastlake neighborhood to learn about climate change and the impact it could have on Oakland.
- Using popular theater to present a youth perspective on climate change and what Oakland needs to consider in its action plan, which we performed at the city's first community convergence convened by the Ella Baker Center's Oakland Climate Action Coalition.
This
year, SAFIRE youth have continued to mobilize youth in Oakland by
designing and leading a second teach-in for youth on Oakland's
preliminary climate action plan, released on March 30, 2010. And in
June, Amanda Wake, ACRJ's youth organizer, and two SAFIRE leaders will
be participating in the US Social Forum in Detroit, Michigan! This
dynamic team will be presenting a workshop on our youth organizing
efforts in Oakland and connecting with others doing similar work
throughout the contry. We will also be collecting stories about how
reproductive justice and climate justice are connected to supporting
families to be strong and thrive.
Check out our video The Cost of Beauty
No More Toxins: 2005-2008
A number of Asian girls we've worked with either know someone in the field of cosmetology or view it as a career path for themselves. From 2005-2008 SAFIRE conducted community-based participatory research, leadership development, education and action on the chemicals that are in our everyday personal care products like nail polish, shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion, make-up, and more. We discovered that there are chemicals in these products that are harmful to our health and are not regulated by the government, so we implemented a social media strategy and designed a website to educate others about what we learned and the choices that can make a difference for our empowerment, our health and our environment. Much of this effort led to a collaboration with Professor Katherine Hammond of UC Berkeley's Environmental Health Sciences Department to test and analyze metals in lip products and identify potential health risks. Stay tuned for a release of this paper in summer 2010!
Click here to visit our Can't Find Beauty in a Bottle website
Check out our video Can't Find Beauty in a Bottle
Asian Youth Get Out The Vote: Fall 2008
In the past three election cycles in California, SAFIRE youth have educated and mobilized their communities to defeat ballot initiatives that would have had harmful impacts on youth and families in low-income communities of color and immigrant communities. Most recently, during the November 2008 election, SAFIRE identified four propositions that, if passed, would have a negative affect on their lives, their families and their communities. Even though most youth are not old enough to vote, we wanted to share our perspective and influence those that can vote to vote NO on Propositions 4, 6, 8 and 9. SAFIRE mobilized youth through organizing an API youth conference Youth + Power = Change, conducting workshops, and leading Oakland's first "Trick or Vote" national night of action. Our efforts contributed to the defeat of Prop 6; and for the 3rd time in a row, the parental notification initiative, Prop 4, was defeated!
Check out our video poem If You Were in My Shoes.
Check out our video The Changing Face of Democracy to see how voting rights have changed over time.
