Today’s youth are the leaders of tomorrow. Too many of the current problems in societies stem from youth education that is ill prepared to deal with present complexity. This is not just a matter of inadequate training in the realities of global change but a lack of human resourcefulness – youth living out of a field of awareness that limits their abilities to deal with their world. An interdependent vision of the whole is lacking. A new approach to leadership education and training for youth is urgently needed. The vision of a planetary civilization that offers equity, education, sufficiency, and the ability to live on this planet in a way that encourages the possible human and the possible world is essential to this approach.

Young World Leaders Conference
Young world leaders gathered at the UN March 2006 for a conference organized by Dr. Anele E. Heiges, O.P. and Maureen Watson. The Young World Leaders Conference (YWLC) provided Social Artistry™ education and tools to prepare the youth for their part in world leadership. Twenty-seven people from 6 continents, 12 countries and many cultures gathered, with participants mostly in their 20’s. The youngest member was 20 yrs old from the Aeta peoples of northern Philippines and eleven others were from indigenous cultures. For over 20 years Dr. Heiges has been an integral part of the International Public Policy Institute, a United Nations NGO that educates young leaders. She is currently the president.

Summer Teen Leadership Camp
Linda Reppond, Director of Youth and Family Ministries for the United Centers for Spiritual Living, anchored their weeklong 2008 Summer Leadership Camp for 400 teens, including 35 international participants, with a curriculum based on The Manual for the Peacemaker by Dr. Jean Houston. One story in the manual tells the legend of Deganawidah and the coming together of the Iroquois tribes to create peace where there had been war.  Allyson Budde, a professional storyteller and social artist, took the stage to tell the story several times each day.  The experience provided youth with the framework for personal healing and forgiveness with people in their lives as well as a broader understanding about reaching across borders to heal the differences between nations. Youth from Russia, Peru, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Canada joined youth from across the USA.  

Transformational Adventures with the Horse: Programs for At-Risk Teens
Since 1995 Trish Broersma, current national President of the Equine Facilitated Mental Health Association, has incorporated Social Artistry™ with her at-risk teen human development programs utilizing the horse/human connection. The summer-long programs and weekend intensives offered to over 250 teens in residential treatment develop skills for global citizenship through enlisting horses as teachers of sensitive communication, leadership in the context of partnership, and claiming one’s highest calling. Social Artistry™ principles underlie the opportunities presented in her book Riding into Your Mythic Life: Transformational Adventures with the Horse, for horse enthusiasts as well as horse professionals.

EMERGING PROGRAM
The Jean Houston Foundation is developing a comprehensive Social Artistry™ training program for youth.  Working in conjunction with middle school, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions, Social Artistry™ trainers will create leadership training experiences for youth using a variety of settings including leadership camps and in-school leadership intensives. Social Artistry™ Youth Lead the Way leadership education for youth curriculum will be developed and integrated into middle school, secondary and post-secondary institutions.  

INVITATION TO JOIN US
By tapping their inherent human capacities for greater imagination, compassion and resolve, youth leaders will ignite other youth. Social Artistry™ Youth Lead the Way opens youth to new consciousness and new learning at a crucial time in their lives. If you are a youth leader or working in education or simply passionate about youth having access to expanded human capacities and want to be part of this exciting work, e-mail us at theoffice@jeanhoustonfoundation.org.