SLPC Workshop Descriptions
Saturday, July 25th
SLPC Opening Session 1:00-3:00 PM
Join CYC’s opening session with young people who have experienced foster care! Current and former foster youth will focus on transforming child welfare that honors the mind, body, and soul of every youth impacted by California’s foster care system
Attend ONE of the following events:
CYC Jeopardy! 3:30-5:00 PM
CYC Jeopardy! is a game show that features a quiz competition in which contestants are presented with questions about foster care and CYC knowledge. The clues cover a wide variety of topics, including child welfare history and current events, CYC legislative achievements, and foster care facts.
Virtual Healing Circle (Youth/Members Only) 3:30-5:00 PM
Join the Healing Circle if you are looking for a space to do some introspection based on inquiry and participate in open discussions around mental health, foster care, ambition, and much more! These discussions will be guided by thought-provoking questions. Members are welcome to participate by answering the questions, listening to their peers, or posing new questions to the group. So join us in the Healing Circle for a safe space created for us to build community TOGETHER!
Monday, July 27th
Introduction to CYC 3:00-4:30 PM
CYC Members and Youth: New to CYC? Or are you unsure of all the committees and opportunities available to you as a member? This workshop goes over a brief history of what CYC has done in the legislative arena and how we work as an organization. Get a brief explanation of all the committees and positions we have within the organization so you can decide which leadership roles are best for you.
Volunteer Supporters & Adult Allies: Want to help your youth get involved? Are you unsure of all the committees and opportunities available to our foster youth members? This workshop goes over a brief history of what CYC has done in the legislative arena and how we work as an organization. Get tips about how to get the youth you work with engaged.
Foster Power Exchange!: 5:00-6:00 PM
Meet foster youth organizers from across the country! During the Foster Power Exchange, our partner organizations Foster Youth in Action, Youth Fostering Change – Philly, and Facing Foster Care Alaska will share about national and local foster youth organizing and advocacy efforts happening across the country. Connect, learn about local actions, and share strategies for transformative change!
Tuesday, July 28th
CYC COVID-19 Task Force: Accessing Resources (Youth/Members Only) 3:00-4:30 PM
CYC Members and Youth will develop specific solutions for their community and decision makers, learning how to apply these solutions locally and statewide. Participants will think critically about the issues associated with the impact of COVID-19 and develop their ideas for solutions together. This workshop is for members and youth to be empowered with the accountability to move their demands forward.
Volunteer Supporter Workshop 3:00-4:30 PM
In this fantastic workshop, CYC Volunteer Supporters will be involved in conversations around conceptual mapping of healing-centered youth organizing. Supporters will also be learning/engaging in the developmental relationship framework and how supporters can use this framework to uphold and push CYC’s youth-led approach to system change as authentically as possible.
Youth-Powered System Change: #UPChafee Campaign 5:00-6:00 PM
Have you been following the #UPChafee campaign? Curious about the impact of COVID-19 on foster care in your state? Want to learn how youth expertise can inform and influence change at the federal level–both administratively and legislatively? Join an interactive dialogue with young leaders and FosterClub staff to discuss opportunities for engagement, policy priorities, and advocacy strategies regarding emergency aid to young people during the current pandemic as well as improved supports for older youth, including Chafee and ETV services.
Wednesday, July 29th
A Better Way for a Brighter Tomorrow (Youth/Members Only) 3:00-4:30 PM
Dig into the systemic root causes that have led up to the foster care system as we know it today. We are now in a moment of opportunity to advance demands for structural reform. How do we stand on the foundation leaders before us have built and truly transform the foster care system?
Thursday, July 30th
From Crisis to Transformation (Youth/Members Only) 3:00-4:30 PM
Dig into the systemic root causes that have led up to the foster care system as we know it today. We are now in a moment of opportunity to advance demands for structural reform. How do we stand on the foundation leaders before us have built and truly transform the foster care system?
Black Injustice and the Power of Young People 5:00-6:30 PM
In this workshop we will discuss living through this time of a double pandemic and how in these last three months young people and advocates across the world are calling out the injustices on Black lives. We will review activism done by young people and how to take care of yourself in your advocacy.
Friday, July 31st
Yo Cali! Youth Power Summer Assembly & Town Hall 1:00-4:00 PM
CYC Members and Youth will join hundreds of youth leaders and organizers for a virtual statewide Youth Power Assembly to build connections, discuss issues, and vote on a statewide platform of youth-centered solutions and demands, especially in the context of COVID-19, the current movement demanding justice for Black lives, and other long-term issues. Immediately following the Assembly, youth leaders will have an opportunity to join a Town Hall Forum issue breakout session to hear youth testimonies, push specific solutions related to priority areas, and engage in dialogue with state-level decision-makers.
Youth leaders, please register to participate in the Youth Assembly by Zoom here. As a friendly community reminder, this is a youth-centered space. While staff and other adult allies are enthusiastically welcome to join, we ask that adults come prepared to listen to and support the youth leaders.
*Please note, this is a separate registration form. To register for SLPC, scroll to bottom.
Saturday, August 1st
Special Session: Impact of Systemic Racism 11:00 AM-1:00 PM
CYC is extending an invitation to county and state agency staff, as well as STRTP (Short-term Residential Treatment Program) providers to a special opportunity to hear CYC Members from across the state discuss the impact of systemic racism on the lives of youth in foster care, and the support needed from providers during this activation of Black liberation. Together we will create a unique youth-led opportunity in response to state, county, and provider requests for authentic conversations that address questions agencies have about needed anti-racist practice, special considerations for prudent parenting of youth of color, and ways to support the mental health and well-being of youth through encouraging activism during this important time. We hope that this will be both an educational opportunity and more importantly an opportunity to develop relationships needed to implement new practices in partnership with youth locally.
Monday, August 3rd
CYC Talks 2:00-4:00 PM
Join CYC’s Virtual Town Hall with young people who have experienced foster care! Stakeholders and child welfare decision-makers will hear strategies for improving the quality of life within foster care directly from young people. Youth will share their voice, passion, creative expressions, and the vision to transform the foster care system.
Now that you have all the workshop information, you’re only a few clicks away from being registered for the virtual 2020 Summer Leadership and Policy Conference!