YouthBuild Social Justice Education Program

Coalition4Justice YouthBuild Social Justice Program (YBSJP)-an innovative and transformative, 8-week community-based leadership and education initiative designed to equip youth (ages 11–18) with the tools to tackle racism, prejudice, and exclusion in their schools and communities. Rooted in the Social Justice Standards developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the YBSJP is built on four core thematic anchors: Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Action. The Action anchor includes training on the electoral process, addressing voter suppression, promoting voter readiness and registration, and empowering youth to engage in democracy through voting. What makes this approach innovative is its intersection of youth leadership, storytelling, and social-emotional development, grounded in lived experiences and community collaboration. The YouthBuild Social Justice Leadership Program is not a traditional diversity curriculum. It combines interactive storytelling, peer dialogue, and community-based mentorship to foster empathy, cross-cultural understanding, and shared values. Youth learn to explore their own identities while gaining appreciation for others’ experiences-particularly those historically marginalized. The program’s design centers on safe spaces where students can engage honestly, reflect deeply, and develop the leadership capacity to act against bias and injustice. Students are armed with education, leadership, advocacy skills and mentorship – tools that necessarily maximize their potential for excellence and for being healthy, productive members of our communities. This initiative leverages youth voices not just for personal growth during an important developmental period, but also a foundation for understanding their rights and responsibilities, and as a catalyst for community transformation.

Despite increased racial and ethnic diversity in American schools and communities—including Montgomery County, PA—schools remain battlegrounds for exclusion, bullying, and misinformation, particularly for communities that have been traditionally suppressed and marginalized. Today’s youth are growing up amidst a national backlash against inclusive education and factual ethnic history. At the same time, they are deeply connected—digitally, socially, and emotionally—and hungry for spaces that validate their experiences and empower them to lead. The YBSJLP meets this moment by empowering youth to see themselves as social justice leaders and change agents. It incorporates civic education on electoral process and voter registration for older teens encouraging a culture of lifelong participation in democracy and equity work. A 1st place winner of the 2024 Philadelphia Social Innovations Award Journal, the YouthBuild Social Justice Program directly addresses this gap by blending education, storytelling, and action to produce a new generation of informed civic leaders equipped to build more just, inclusive, and compassionate communities. Its potential for scalability, school district adoption, and deep local engagement makes it not only timely but uniquely positioned to reshape how we develop youth leadership for the future. By centering youth voices and emphasizing both storytelling, motivating them to take action and vote, the YouthBuild Social Justice Program prepares young leaders not just to understand equity and justice—but to actively build it through community involvement, leadership, and democratic participation through the voting process and civic engagement.