Young people these days face unique challenges that parents and grandparents couldn’t have imagined encountering when they were that age – from mental health to drug abuse, lack of opportunities and gang involvement – just to name a few.
The nonprofit organization Higher Is Waiting, founded by minister and author Jayden Watkins – himself a teenager – is hosting an event on Sunday, Oct. 26 that Watkins said will have teens and young adults doing all the talking and the adults in the room listening.
It’s called “Young Voices For Change,” and it takes place at 3 p.m. in the Farm Bureau room of Perry Memorial Library on Breckenridge Street in Henderson.
Watkins said it will be a youth-led event, but all ages are invited. welcome and encouraged to attend.
Teens and young adults will share their stories, ideas and solutions for building stronger, safer communities, he said, while local elected and appointed officials – along with mentors – listen, engage and respond.
“We youth need support,” Watkins said on Tuesday’s TownTalk. He hopes the room is packed on Sunday – a full house will go a long way to demonstrate the community’s interest in hearing and learning about what young people are worrying about and thinking about, as well as finding solutions to those problems.
A series of speakers is scheduled to speak for a few minutes on a challenge that youth face in the community, as well as offer a possible solution. Following the speakers, a panel discussion will take place, giving members of the audience a chance to ask questions of the youth on the panel.
Watkins said he’s been to conferences and other events where youth are at the center of the conversation, but there are no youth involved in the program.
“You need to hear directly from youth,” Watkins said, so they can be a part of the problem-solving process.
“Together, we’ll witness the next generation lead the conversation toward hope, healing, and progress,” Watkins said. “Don’t miss this event as the next generation creates change by first using their voices.”
Watkins has been using his own voice in a number of ways for a number of years – as a minister, an author, founder of a nonprofit – and this year, as Student Body President his senior year at Henderson Collegiate.
When he established Higher Is Waiting, senior year seemed a long way off. With high school graduation looming, Watkins has been thinking about how the various programs he’s involved with will be sustained.
“The Lord hasn’t led me to that person yet,” he said of a successor. His involvement in planning youth events will continue, he said.
CLICK PLAY!
