Friend,

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) works with hundreds of young people around the world whose lives are daily constrained by the chains of poverty, violence, and injustice. When people internalize the pain and harm they have experienced, they can lose hope for the future.

In cities from Seattle to Guatemala City, AFSC works with young people to take a critical look at the destructive narratives that have shaped their communities and to equip them to reclaim agency over their lives. Over the summer, young people from diverse backgrounds gathered together to study human rights frameworks, exchange stories of lived experiences, and collaborate to develop strategies for social change.

Youth in Seattle organized to block the construction of a new juvenile justice detention facility, while those in Guatemala City strategized to expand their peace network that has already reclaimed 17 public spaces from the grip of violence and decay. Acting as effective agents for social change is healing and transformative for these youth and their communities.

Working with youth in so many places also allows AFSC to bring together young leaders from different backgrounds and locations. Hearing each other's stories helps young leaders see the universality of many of the problems they face. Sharing their successes gives them hope and inspires them to do more.

For the second year, young people involved with AFSC programs in Southern states spent a week in Washington, D.C., learning about human rights and advocating for the needs of their communities to national policymakers. At home, each is involved in a different strand of local social change work, ranging from conflict resolution and peace education projects to lobbying for state policy changes on various issues, including immigration, incarceration, and economic justice.

Twenty-four-year-old Briana O'Neal was there—she is one of the founders of Peace by Piece, AFSC's youth program in New Orleans. Her home is a war zone, she says: "I like to call it ground zero. This is the place I call home." She's worked since 2006 to build peace among her peers. She brought a New Orleans delegation to Washington to speak with Congresswoman Mary Landrieu about what they need to create the conditions for peace in their community, including comprehensive sex education and funding for recreation centers.

Take a look at this slideshow to meet the other participants and see their work to advocate for their communities.

Each one returned home from Washington with lobbying experience, tactics for making change on their chosen issue, and a new perspective of the rights of their community—as well as new connections with other young activists from different states and backgrounds.

For many of today's young leaders—like generations of AFSC youth before them—spending a summer working for justice can be both personally healing and an empowering first step toward a lifelong commitment to lasting peace with justice.

Your support makes all of this possible. Thank you.

In peace,