The new program, supported in part by a grant from the San Francisco Foundation’s One Nation Bay Area project, provides young people in one of the United States’ most ethnically and culturally diverse urban areas with the leadership skills to work together and overcome prejudice.
On Sept. 15, Young Leaders Program Coordinator Krithika Harish joined seven teenage volunteers and three adult leaders at Our Lady of the Rosary, a Catholic church in Union City, California. The majority of those participants – including Catholics, Hindus, Jews, Protestants and agnostics -- attend James Logan High School, a large and extraordinarily diverse school in Union City.
Before sharing the basics of interfaith dialogue with her audience, Ms. Harish challenged them to think about why they might want to do so.
“We talked about why we can’t afford to ignore religion, what kind of special skills we need to use while talking to someone of a different faith, and what makes interfaith dialogue different from a conversation or a debate,” Ms. Harish said. “Interfaith dialogue comes with the very deliberate intention of creating a safe space for learning and sharing.”
The students studied the PICO community organizing model – one that begins with one-on-one relationships, continues with research into issues relevant to a community and concludes with group actions. Getting her young volunteers to become more engaged with their communities is one of the program’s primary goals, Ms. Harish said.
“If you aren’t 18, you can’t vote – and yet the decisions other people are making affect you,” Ms. Harish said. “So it’s important for youth to get involved.”
With that in mind, many of the young volunteers took part in a non-partisan phone bank on Sept. 20 at the Congregations Organizing for Renewal office in Hayward. The students called East Bay residents with a reminder to register and to vote in the November election.
The young leaders are also getting involved in issues even closer to home – from finding ways to encourage James Logan students of different ethnicities and faith backgrounds to get to know each other to addressing some of the financial issues affecting the school.
“Budget cuts have been shortening the school year for each of the last three years,” Ms. Harish said. “They have a brand-new media center and library that was built last year – but it’s been locked since the beginning of this school year with a sign that reads ‘Not Open for Students.’ The students are hoping to sit down and talk with the principal, to research what’s really happening with the school district’s budget issues, and to figure out what they can do about them.”
