Who are we?
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The Youth Community Learning and Leadership Circle (CLLC) is a part of Healthy Archuleta that is primarily focused on engaging the youth in learning about our community-based food system with the aim of advancing food equity for all. We are a small piece of a large puzzle that is intent on creating an equitable food system that benefits every part of the community. One of our Youth CLLC team members highlighted our purpose, "The purpose of the Youth CLLC is to build a community of youth, who are interested in supporting the health of residents of Archuleta County, while bringing their individual experiences and know-how to the table."
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What is our mission?
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The Healthy Archuleta Youth CLLC exists to benefit the whole community by giving youth a platform on which to share their perspectives on both issues and solutions related to healthy food access, health equity, and community cohesion. We are dedicated to engaging our community members in their food system, through youth educational activities and community events. Check out our learning in this slide presentation: Want to see the Youth PhotoVoice Project, click HERE.
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What have we been up to?
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The youth CLLC works to provide education opportunities for the youth, offers support and insight to the Coalition, and works through project-based efforts in order to engage the youth of the community. We are a team that works through participatory work in order to promote equitable changes.
Do you wonder how you can join our efforts? You can start by learning alongside our team. Here is what one of our team members shared, "Learning! Whether that be how to DIY compost, cooking, or how to recycle, learning from the content that the coalition has (and will) put out is the easiest way to get involved." |
Rise Above With Riff Raff… This summer the Youth CLLC planned and organized Healthy Archuleta’s involvement in celebrating the 10-year anniversary for Riff Raff. Healthy Archuleta (HA) was among a handful of non-profit organizations that were invited to share what their engagement in the community is and how others can get involved. The Youth CLLC had the idea to bring fun to this engagement and held a “spin-the-wheel” prize winning game. Each contestant was welcome to come up and spin the wheel at HA’s table and win a prize from a list of different donated prizes they coordinated from around the community. Prizes ranged from gift cards, to lawn care services, to t-shirts from different community outlets and were a real treat for the community members who were able to participate with us.
Local Gardens and Farms… The Youth CLLC had the opportunity to visit five local gardens and/or farms in Archuleta County. At all of them that the Youth CLLC members visited, they learned more about the growing and producing portion of the local food system. At three of the five they hosted events open to the community to come learn about growing and producing. All three of the events included food to eat and activities for the kids and adults to participate in, along with tours of the gardens.
Equity Training... We were asked to help develop an equity training session for the community members who created a proposal for the Participatory Budgeting process. We drew on our past equity training and our ongoing learning through our work with the Coalition.
Food Drives… In early May this year, some of our Youth CLLC members were able to help with and organize a Food Drive at the high school. They set up different stations across the school building with points of drop-off for donations. Youth CLLC members have also assisted with Healthy Archuleta’s quarterly food drives. These food drives exist to gather food for the seven food pantries of Archuleta county. Please join us in supporting our neighbors who visit the food pantries at an upcoming food drive.
Other Events… Healthy Archuleta Youth CLLC members along with volunteers were at the County fair and the Pagosa Springs Farmers Market over the summer to talk to anyone interested in learning more about Healthy Archuleta as an organization and its many activities. Community members were able to sign up to receive our newsletter or offer their time as a volunteer.
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Composting… After a Healthy Archuleta hosted composting meeting, one of the most pressing topics was the idea of educating the community on composting. The Youth CLLC took this idea and began creating their own plan for educating youth in our community. These Youth CLLC members collaborated and put together a game and a couple of diverse lesson plans for teaching youth participating in summer camp activities and the youth from HA's Spanish CLLC. The lesson plan included a game called "Capture the Compost," based on the schoolyard game Capture the Flag, where the flags were a bag of non-compostable items and a bag of compostables. They created a coloring activity (with support from a local artist) for the younger elementary school-age youth to get a basic idea of how sorting for composting works. In addition, they made a hands-on activity for middle school age youth to make their own mini composting bins out of repurposed milk jugs. The composting educational activities were used at the 6/26 Spanish CLAC, the 6/28 Pagosa KIDS Day Camp, and the 7/27 Pagosa Community Initiative Camp.
Advancing Recycling… Healthy Archuleta Youth CLLC was invited to help facilitate recycling at the ComFest concert in the park this past month. We received bins donated from Ace Hardware, City Market, Walmart, and Tractor Supply. To the bins we attached signs to signify which was for aluminum and which was for plastics. The youth helped the community understand how to sort through their garbage and pick out the recyclables. The bins were not a perfect system and next time we would work to make them more distinguishable from the garbage bins the county had set up. As a group committed to learning, we seek to learn and do better in service of our community.
Healthy Archuleta Youth Club... We are supporting our peers at the high school to start a student-led youth club. The purpose of the club is to educate the student body on the inner workings of the food system in our community, food equity, and our role in the food system. The club plans to do projects that help enhance food security, advance food equity, and increase understanding among our peers, the community, and school system.
Apples, Apples... During the pandemic we packaged close to 300 bags of apples to share with families at the parent teacher conferences at our local elementary school! The youth team bagged local apples that came from an orchard in Yellow Jacket that is maintained by CSU. Parents picked up bags after their conferences ended with teachers! "We were excited for the opportunity to partner with the elementary school in this service project!"
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Where are we heading?
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Our main goals are:
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Why should I care?
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Getting involved with our team gives you an opportunity to develop a deeper sense of community and a connection to it, examine food security, and to encourage learning and growth among our peers. We will be the leaders of the future and being in spaces that revolve around youth impact are important for our future endeavors and our community. In the words of one of the youth team members, "Youth are the future, and the more knowledgeable we are on sustainable, equitable ways of life, the more progressive and bright our futures will be."
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How can I help?
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WE the YOUTH are able to support the community through project based work, school-based projects, attending meetings, and working within and across the food system. Right now youth can get involved with the Coalition through the instagram page, community conversations, upcoming youth forums, apple bagging, and flyer and website crafting. Send us a message via instagram page.
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