Our World, Our Future Day 2: Geoffrey Canada

The second day of Our World, Our Future featured a plenary address from Geoffrey Canada, a full day of workshops, and two off-site service-learning projects. 

The plenary address began with Jeron Meriani, a youthrive Board of Directors member, speaking about his experiences with bullying and how he found ways to cope by discovering healthy outlets. Youth emcees Hunter Mullis and Jill Farina introduced Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone, Inc. Canada, nationally recognized for his pioneering work helping children and a passionate advocate for education reform, spoke about his role models, meeting President Clinton shortly after the creation of AmeriCorps, and seizing the moment in your own life.

"Everybody gets their moment; you can't tell when you're moment will come," said Canada. "Will you be ready?" Canada concluded his remarks with a recitation of his poem, "Take A Stand."

Later in the afternoon, conference participants had the opportunity to attend one of two different off-site projects; EcoEducation's Toxic Tour, or Service-Learning in Saint Paul at the Open World Learning Community school. On the tour, participants visited toxic sites in the Twin Cities while exploring environmental racism, justice, land use, and how these issues affect youth. At the Open World Learning Community school, participants helped pack nutritious meals in the school's OWL Against Hunger project in conjunction with ImpactLives, a Minnesota-based nonprofit. 

Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate, also led a Thought Leader session and will be featured at a public address tomorrow, Friday, April 13 at 4:30 p.m. at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Tickets to this address are open to the public for $10. Contact the Minneapolis Convention Center for more information.

Photos: (top) Geoffrey Canada addressed Our World, Our Future conference attendees during his plenary speech; (bottom) Conference attendees created food kits during an off-site service-learning project at the Open World Learning Community school in Saint Paul.