Elevating the Next Generation of Leaders
By Sarah Larsen
Photo by Ron Coleman, C4 Photography
When you think of a leader, who do you picture? Maybe it’s a teacher, a minister, or a politician. It might be a gray-haired man in a suit and tie, a seasoned organizer leading a nonprofit, or a middle-aged woman CEO sitting behind a desk in a fancy office. Most likely, you don’t think of a first-time voter, a college student, or a 20-something with an entry-level job. Yet it’s time we started seeing all these people as leaders, too.
For more established adults, it can be easy to forget that their younger counterparts have a real stake in the decisions being made every day, on both local and national levels. After all, the policies their elders enact are impacting their daily lives and shaping their futures, too.
Young people don’t usually see people like themselves receiving airwave space in our civic process, and when they do manage to make their voices heard, their concerns are often brushed aside or minimized.
Olivia Patinkin, Youth Engagement and Social Media Coordinator at the Women’s Fund of Omaha, is on a mission to change that.
“The fact is that young people deserve to be listened to,” she said. “And more than that, to be trusted to make decisions, especially about things that impact them.” As someone intimately acquainted with advocacy work, Patinkin knows just how much we stand to benefit from listening to young people, and she’s also familiar with the obstacles they’re facing.
“Ageism is so prevalent,” she said. “Even if you don’t fit the exact numbers of the ‘youth’ demographic, that doesn’t mean that you can’t suffer from it. It can show up in a lot of ways, like condescension or tokenism.” That’s why Patinkin is using her position at the Women’s Fund to create opportunities for young adults in Omaha to speak up. This summer, in close collaboration with the Women’s Fund Youth Advisory Council (YAC), she organized Voices in Bloom: A Young Leaders Summit, with the help of Kween Alabi and Yasmine Alhejaj.
“The goal of [the event] was to bring together young leaders from across the Omaha metro to address the issues impacting our rights and our happiness, and to brainstorm actionable solutions to make Omaha a more hospitable place,” Patinkin said. Thirty people attended the event, ranging from ages 16 to 26. For several, it was their first-ever connection with the Women’s Fund.
“Some folks just saw a flier in a coffee shop or the post on Instagram,” Patinkin said. Her goal is to reach young people where they are, and the fact that her efforts for authentic connection are paying off gives the YAC members hope. It’s also powerful feedback: Young people are looking for opportunities to get involved. As Olivia’s peer in advocacy, Charlie Yale, observes, the problem isn’t a lack of interest.
“Young people aren’t disengaged,” Yale said. “They’re disenfranchised.” From its inception, the spirit of the Young Leaders Summit honored that and sought to remedy the harm. It wasn’t structured as a series of lectures on how to be a leader. It was a platform for young folks to actually experience themselves as leaders firsthand.
“It was the Youth Advisory Council members who were at the front of the room facilitating the whole time,” Patinkin said. From start to finish, “it truly was [an event] by and for young people. I was working with the Youth Advisory Council for months to plan the entire agenda.”
First on the agenda was a values exercise to identify the issues participants care most about, and the hopes they have for the future.
“We noticed that one of the big recurring themes was sexual and reproductive health,” Patinkin said, which made for a seamless transition into the next portion of the day: a discussion on sexual and reproductive health. Patinkin said it makes sense that the group placed a high value on these issues, as sexual education and reproductive freedom aren’t just ideals—they’re the foundation for effective advocacy work.
“It’s only when we can make informed choices about our bodies, health and futures that we can reach our full potential to enact change,” she said.
From there, it only made sense that the next item on the agenda would be to talk about the legal side of things. The group learned about Nebraska’s legislature, and discovered actionable steps toward involvement, such as registering to vote and contacting local representatives.
Finally, the latter half of the day was devoted to a hands-on art and storytelling activity and a presentation on mental health. That’s because, even though they’re often the first things to be overlooked when the world gets overwhelming, the practices of art, storytelling, and self-care are essential components of advocacy, too. The YAC encourages rest as a radical act of resistance, and creativity as a crucial catalyst for change.
“Sharing art and stories that reflect our experiences can be just as impactful as any other action step,” Patinkin said. Indeed, creative work can and does affect our social environment, which in turn has an undeniable influence on policy. And even though policy change might at first sound like a lofty goal, young folks across the metro are even now taking initiative to shape our systems.
“I think that young people are impatient in the best possible way,” Patinkin said. “And young people in Omaha and all over the world have stopped waiting for permission and are making their voices heard in creative ways.”
Yasmine Alhejaj, a member of the YAC, is also a witness to how Omaha’s young adults are effecting change in real time. She and her fellow student workers at the SoLi Lab for Sexuality and Gender Science on the University of Nebraska Omaha campus distribute sexual and menstrual health supplies at no cost to recipients, made possible by a grant from the Women’s Fund.
“I think it’s increased people’s engagement,” Alhejaj said of current events. “I’ve noticed more people become aware of the political climate and how that affects everyone—and how our struggles are interconnected.”
Patinkin echoed that hope—the Youth Advisory Council is already looking forward to future projects.
“We’re thinking about what comes next,” she said. “We definitely need to have more events like [the Young Leaders Summit]. But one thing that came up in the comments is having more casual events, too.” To that end, the council is looking for ways to invest in third spaces—places people spend time besides home, work or school. Because when there are places to form community, collaboration becomes possible. And where there is collaboration, there’s a chance for real change.
“We can accomplish so much more if we give young people the tools and the platforms that they need, and if we work in partnership and not in hierarchy,” Patinkin said.
In times of fear and uncertainty, it becomes even more urgent for us to show up for each other. Young people in Omaha are doing just that. And it’s time we followed their lead. W