‘We’re all in the same boat’ was a common refrain in the early stages of the pandemic – meant to engender a sense of solidarity. But, as we’ve gone through the past year-plus, we realize that this is not truly accurate. A more authentic refrain is, ‘We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat.’
Weathering The Storm is a new community-building conversation series, brought to you by LEAD, that will bring Northshore communities members together in conversation. These conversations will center around emerging issues that are impacting our youth, and will help us to develop strategies for navigating these situations together. We believe facilitating these small group conversations, in multiple locations around the same time, can help our community engage together and have important – yet sometimes difficult – conversations regarding topics such as:
- Mental health awareness
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Substance abuse
- Depression & anxiety
- The impact the pandemic is and will continue to have on our teens, families and our community
Our series kickoff will gather community leaders and community members to participate in conversations during the weeks of September 17th to September 26th 2021. LEAD will provide a conversation tool kit for each host to use as a guide and a survey to complete at the end. We will gather the data and feedback from each of the small events and compile into a community report to share with you and our community to help us continue to engage in thoughtful conversations to support our youth as we move forward. We can impact significant change for the better when our whole community works together.
Interested in Hosting a Weather the Storm Session?
As a host, you will be bringing together people in your life- friends, family, coworkers; your choice! – to discuss the quote above and issues that your group think are important locally. We want to see as many folks in the LFLB area talking and thinking about change, for the better, in our community.
Our hope is that these conversations occur around the same time, so that our community is engaging in these conversations together. We will be inviting “hosts” to host their own conversations, and at the culmination of the event, LEAD will compile a summary report that will synthesize the results of the many conversations.
