The Urban Village

Launch programs: this is our calling. Our Village incubates dreams and future leaders. We don't stop at a nurturing environment, we intentionally carve out and engage opportunities that tactically allow our youth to grow and thrive beyond our Village. Our "fight for something" scholarship, fiscal sponsors for other organizations and our Village klub all fall under our launch programs. Fight for something currently supports five k'nyaw college students. We currently fiscally sponsor two organizations from The community. Lastly, we host tutoring and support on tuesdays and culturally relevant klub activities for youth on thursday evenings.

Heal programs: given The realities of violence and displacement our community has faced, we believe creating opportunities for youth to engage with and heal from past and present traumas/hurts/injustices are absolutely necessary for a more robust and sustainable launch. Currently, we run two summer camp offerings, one for k'nyaw and one for karenni youth, in The summer. Camp is a four day, immersive experience that allows our youth to examine historical trauma and find value in who they are. We also run "Urban Village outdoors" which offers multiple one day climbing activities as well as a week long boundary water trip. Finally, we run our ayo mentorship program. Ayo pairs k'nyaw and karenni youth who are battling chemical dependency or violence with a culturally relevant mentor to meet and receive support on The road to recovery.

Connect programs: our youth need opportunities to explore their cultural heritage, history, and homeland in order to understand their identity as they go out into The world as connectors and peacemakers. This work is done in three major areas. First, we run a history, heritage and homeland cohort for youth in our community to learn in more depth about their history and culture. These cohorts happen at our community space as well as in partnership with local schools. Secondly, we have invested in and developed a historical archive that includes interviews and timeline resources about The history and culture of The k'nyaw people. Third, we support and help facilitate various community events throughout The year in partnership with other organizations.