This year marks the 8th Annual Youth Stopping Violence Summit, which will take place at Lovonya DeJean Middle School in Richmond, CA on October 15th, 2011. This year’s summit will explore the ideas of Unity through Diversity. The Youth Stopping Violence Summit promotes diversity and works to bridge the gaps between different cultures, finding that violence is something that has affected us all. The goals of the summit are to prevent violence, by bringing our communities together in order learn and explore the issues of violence and identify solutions to creating a safer community.
In 2004 the first Youth Stopping Violence Summit was created as a response to the death of a 15-year old Khmu youth, Chan Boonkeut, who was shot and killed at her home in San Pablo, CA, on October 13, 2003, by youth members of a Southeast Asian gang. This tragedy galvanized the community, resulting in efforts to organize the community, including youth, engaging them in discussions and planning towards the goal of violence prevention. Out of this tragedy SEAYL was created and we have continued to organize the Youth Stopping Violence Summit every year since then. In recent years the summit has grown and evolved, reaching outside of West Contra Costa County, and outside of the Southeast Asian communities, to promote cultural diversity and unity.
The Youth Stopping Violence Summit is a space where issues of community violence, social injustices and the systems of oppression can be discussed through meaningful dialogue. Through speakers, interactive workshops and performances in a youth-led and youth-friendly environment, we hope to spread this message of peace and unity. For the 8th Annual Youth Stopping Violence Summit, SEAYL plans to address issues of violence by providing space for young people from many backgrounds to learn share and grow together. We hope that the day’s events will inspire young people to get involved in their community and advocate for the changes that will make West Contra Costa County a safer, more positive place for young people.
For more information, contact Sue Denny at sue.denny@chaaweb.org
If you are interested in providing a workshop at this year’s Summit, please contact Nahid Ebrahimi at Nahid@RYSECenter.org to request an application. Deadline for workshop applications is Friday, October 7, 2011.
Sponsored by:
