Officially Introducing the “State of the Young Black Advocate”

We can go on and on about the unprecedented nature of the past two years – from the COVID-19 pandemic to the racial reckoning in response to police violence against Black people.

However, one thing that persisted throughout all of that, and that has persisted beyond the past two to three years, is the leadership and courage of Black youth, and the power of our voices. We organized, educated, supported one another through mutual aid programs, doubled down on our personal and organizational commitments to our communities, and even discovered a newfound commitment to join the fight for Black liberation in our own unique way individually and with the creation of new organizations.

True liberation cannot happen without all of our collective participation, collaboration, and cooperation. However, we each have the power and agency to participate in ways that speak to our unique lived experiences, skill sets, passions, gifts, and talents. Better to Speak is committed to growing into a platform for storytellers and changemakers to make their voices heard, and discover and strengthen the unique power of their voices.

We will continue to do this by using digital platforms and real-life discussions to amplify the personal narratives of people already in the work to educate and inspire others to join them and connect our audience with tangible resources to get involved in the work in ways that are meaningful for them. Whether that's across various social or political issues, through different roles, or by leveraging different skills in storytelling and/or advocacy.

Introducing State of the Young Black Advocate

With that in mind, we are officially launching State of the Young Black Advocate – a community outreach and narrative power-building campaign that will seek out the perspectives of young Black leaders to inform peer-driven community programming in 2022 and build narrative power among Black youth and young adults.

What is narrative power?

Narrative Power is defined as “the power to dictate norms and values in society. This includes the ability to shape what’s possible and determine what’s politically realistic, and even to stretch beyond the possible and establish what is inevitable.” (source)

Why Narrative Power-Building and Community Outreach? Why is that our focus?

Narrative Power-Building is the long-term goal – we want to build young Black folks’ ability (empowerment and capacity) to “dictate norms and values in society” and “shape what’s possible and determine what’s politically realistic.” This means owning editorial and content platforms, deciding our own narrative, and facilitating peer-led spaces to grow our individual and collective capacity.

But first, Better to Speak needs to focus on Community Outreach to explore how we can possibly be positioned as an organization specifically focusing on this intersection of Black liberation movement work.

For example: Is there even a need for a Black youth/young adult-led org that focuses on narrative power-building and community media?

If there is, in fact, a need for an organization like this: Who else is out there working in this space or adjacent to it? What are they interested in and working on when it comes to Black liberation and social justice? Does it align with our mission and vision? If so, how? What opportunities exist for Better to Speak to collaborate with our peers and co-create this organization and its impact?

These are the kinds of questions we are hoping to explore through this campaign and its programs.

Campaign Tactics:

• Survey of Black youth to contribute their voices and stories to a narrative project that also offers tangible data and calls-to-action

• Events + Actions in partnership with Better to Speak and our partners/community. This will include…

  • Volunteer Opportunities

  • Teach-Ins – Issues, Media-Making, Digital Advocacy

  • Roundtables + Strategy Sessions with Black youth leaders and Black youth-led organizations

• Community Feedback on Better to Speak and its programming, as well as peer-led programs for Black youth in general

Goals/Intended Outcomes:

• Expanded community – including our general base, membership, partnerships, etc.

• Insight to inform our programming and offerings, or (based on the feedback we receive) to offer a documentation of what Black youth and young adults are looking for to share that with our community and network, as well as the general public

• Qualitative research study that explores and summarizes the insights and key findings from the survey and provides recommendations for narrative change and programming by, for and about Black youth and young adults

Why focus on Black youth and young adults?

There is a lot of media content and narrative around Gen Z and millennials in general that often doesn’t include or center our voices and stories, especially the voices and stories of Black folks. This campaign aims to connect our peers to storytelling and advocacy tools to tell our own stories and communicate our political priorities, demands, and desires.

Why focus on this now?

Nearly three years into the COVID pandemic, and two years after the racial reckoning of 2020, this campaign also aims to follow up on many of the campaign, legislative and corporate promises made to Black communities and Black youth in particular and assess their progress by our standards. Additionally, we aim to build and mobilize Black youth ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

Read More: Through the Looking Glass: 2022 Narrative Predictions

How you can support + get involved:

• Take the survey [COMING SOON]

• Sign up to get campaign updates, and notices about events and volunteer opportunities

• Partner with us on strategy sessions, roundtables and other programming

• Spread the word with the Learn More + Take Action toolkit

• Donate to support this outreach work and project