Leigh Levine

“The Broward County Public Schools is seeking a SEL-in-Action grant to transform our longstanding partnership with I Learn America (ILA) into a fully migrant youth-led storytelling program that fosters culturally affirming SEL. With your support, immigrant origin youth will work to re-imagine school as a place to rebuild relationships in order to help our newest Americans to thrive academically and holistically, as we emerge from the pandemic. Through this project, ILA's team will train program alumni (18-22 year old immigrant origin youth) to become ILA Youth Leaders who will spearhead a series of storytelling/sharing workshops in our classrooms. Through highly interactive arts-infused lessons, the trained youth will activate students' learning by guiding their peers to share (and write) the stories of their lives (present, past, and future) to make better sense of themselves in this new age, while still finding time to share laughs and find joy in spite of these uncertain times. Creating an environment that centralizes empathy and love, youth leaders will foster a sense of belonging that is so crucial to transforming this land that has become 'home' into a place of healing solidarity. Culturally responsive artist-educators will support the Youth Leaders to guide newcomer peers to channel their personal narratives into community-based, artistic activations. Through photos, podcasts, poetry, and graphic-art, they'll 'produce' works that spread ”