The Why Behind Our Why
A Leadership Journey provides youth of color ages 13-18 from marginalized identities equitable access to international & domestic cultural exploration through travel, utilizing travel as the vehicle to discuss the importance of Mental & Emotional wellness Global Citizenship, Self-awareness, Leadership, and Ubuntu.
A Leadership Journey was started because youth from marginalized identities do not always have equitable access to international or domestic travel.
To fill this void, we started A Leadership Journey to create a platform that would provide equitable access to international and domestic travel.
WHY EQUITY?
Because financial disparities hinder youth from marginalized identities from being to afford the expensive cost for travel opportunities.
WHY ACCESS?
Because youth from marginalized identities don’t always have access to travel because they don’t have the financial resources and or the opportunity isn’t local.
WHY MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH?
Because whether ptsd or personal or environmental stress, youth from marginalized identities experience high amount of stress which impacts how they see themselves, feel about themselves, see their opportunities, and feel about their opportunities.
WHY INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL?
International travel gives you a cultural perspective that is different from the cultural exchanges you can get in the United States. International travel allows you see the world in a broader lens, it allows you to learn the differences and similarities in politics, government, education, housing, civic engagement, art, and other cultural structures that can be very academic. Young people who participate in international travel gain an academic experience that you cannot get in the United States.
WHY DOMESTIC TRAVEL?
Our goal is to collaborate with youth programs across the United States that would be willing to participate in cultural exchange activities. By working with other programs, in other states, our goal is to bridge the cultural gap between what young people know, and what's really going on in other communities, to create a stronger understanding on how connected we are, thus creating a stronger community of youth leaders across borders.