I’m Charlie and I’m a youth mentor with the Youth Leadership Initiative. We are dedicated to developing stronger leaders and teaching social justice based leadership. I was a participant in the program last year and I’ve returned this year to facilitate the program as part of a team of youth mentors. Young people often feel they don’t have a say in their communities but my work as a youth mentor shows them how they can reclaim agency and take action to be a force for change. The activities I facilitate put social justice concepts in practice and I’ll also be leading a team of participants in developing and executing a community service project. It’s so fulfilling to give back to a program that helped me grow as a leader only a year ago and to keep contributing to a community that I love.