Course Description

One of the best traits one can have moving into adulthood and citizenship is a sense of gratitude--gratitude to their family and to their community. Not every family or community is built the same, however, and many people struggle every day to have their basic needs met. Those of us who can show gratitude can do a little more and give back to our communities in a meaningful way.

Youth Take Action is a course designed to help you find ways to express your gratitude and to give back. This is important in helping you become in touch with your emotions and develop empathy for others. This is important in developing your self-confidence and self-awareness. This is important in developing into a full-fledged citizen of our community.

In class we will learn about problems in our community and come up with ways to address these issues. We will do things to help. I will help you with some and you will speak your own truth and develop things on your own. We will focus on social justice using the framework of John Rawl’s landmark opus on ethics and political philosophy A Theory of Justice.

One of our main goals is to take some risks and to broaden our contacts. Volunteering outside of ‘safe’ environments (ie your family or network) and meeting new people are a requirement for this course.