The year-long One Village Project is a youth-led community service and leadership program that unites local, refugee, and immigrant youth to create a diverse “village” of youth leaders who are committed to supporting each other, serving communities in need, and growing as youth leaders.  The One Village Project consists of three main components: community service days, youth leadership training and youth talking/support circles.

The One Village Project begins each year upon completion of the Global Youth Peace Summit, an 8-day experience where 70 youth representing over 25 different countries, come together to learn how they can positively impact their homes, their peers, their community, their environment, their world and themselves.  The youth exit the Summit as a united “village” of youth leaders eager to put their compassion into action by serving those in need.

Unite, Serve, Grow.

This year, we are excited to announce that we have significantly expanded and improved upon our year-long One Village Project. Our vision has always been to offer more opportunities for the youth of the One Village Project to support each other, to serve their communities and to grow as leaders. With the help of our community, we now have the resources to make this possible.

This year’s One Village Project will include:

• Monthly Youth Talking Circles
• Monthly Youth Leadership Training led by Kenya Masala and Source Consulting Group.
• Youth-led Community Service Days
• Weekend Youth Retreats, including a camping trip
• Monthly Volunteer Talking Circles
• Facilitator Training for Volunteers

PLEASE NOTE: that the first One Village Project Service Day is scheduled for Friday, September 21st, 4:45pm, at Butler Park.

One Village Project Schedule

Youth Talking Circles (6:30p-8:00p at the Amala Foundation):
Then, the 4th Tuesday of every month, 6:30p-8:00p, starting January 2013

Youth Leadership Training (6:30p-8:00p at the Amala Foundation):
Starting January 2013, youth leadership training will take place on the 2nd Thursday of every month, 6:30p-8:00p, at the Amala Foundation.

Service Project Dates: Sep 21, Oct 27, Nov 17, Jan 19, Feb 23, Apr 20, May 18, & two weeks of Camp Indigo in June. Locations & times TBD.

The next One Village Project Service Days are:

June 19th – Feeding the Hungry at A.R.C.H. – 11am-5pm

For more details, please visit our Facebook event invite: https://www.facebook.com/events/124340107729548/.

February 23rd, South Austin Rehabilitation Center, times TBD

Youth Registration Is Now Open!

This year, we are asking that every youth that wishes to participate in the One Village Project fill out a REGISTRATION FORM.

The tuition for the year-long One Village Project is $250 for the entire year. This price includes all community service days, monthly talking circles and the year-long monthly youth leadership training led by Kenya Masala and Source Consulting Group. Tuition helps to cover all expenses that are associated with our expanded One Village Project offering including transportation, supplies, food, and coordination.

Flexible payment arrangements are available. Please note that no youth will be turned away due to their financial situation. Both partial and full scholarships are available but must be applied for on the REGISTRATION FORM.

Interested in Volunteering?

This year, due to the growth of the One Village Project, we are requesting that all volunteers fill out a VOLUNTEER FORM. This will allow us to get a better feel for how you wish to serve as well as help us more effectively communicate our volunteer needs.

Inspired To Make This Experience Possible For A Youth?

With a donation of $250, one youth will have the opportunity to participate in this year’s One Vilalge Project and be given a space to grow, to share, to be celebrated, to be empowered and to heal.

Our goal is to raise enough funds to sponsor 30 youth to participate in this year’s One Village Project. Any donation amount is greatly appreciated and will be integral piece in creating this ongoing transformational experience for the youth.

One Village Project Details

The year-long One Village Project offers the youth an opportunity to improve their leadership skills and put their compassion into action by embarking upon a year of  humanitarian service projects that they envision and lead together, as a Village.  They serve locally and globally, integrating themes such as: hunger, shelter, communication and environmental stewardship.  The One Village Project offers valuable opportunities for youth to find an authentic sense of purpose and community among peers.

In addition to the service projects, the youth unite monthly in the form Youth Circles where they are able to  share their stories, be heard and be supported as they continue to heal from the wounds of violence, neglect and war.  The youth also have the opportunity to participate in a monthly Youth Leadership Training Course led by the Amala Foundation and Source Consulting Group.  Source Consulting Group has provided leadership training to some of the largest businesses and organizations in Austin and around the world including Seton Medical Center and REI.

Over the last several years, The One Village Project has partnered on youth-led community service projects with several agencies in Austin.  Some examples of these service projects include: serving hundreds of people food at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH), partnering with the Lower Colorado River Authority and Keep Austin Beautiful to clean up Town Lake, spending an afternoon with the elderly at the South Austin Care and Rehabilitation Center, holding a peace rally downtown in honor of The International Day of Peace, and conducting a T-Shirt Design Contest to benefit the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.  When some of their fellow One Village members were caught in the middle of a war in Nigeria, the One Village youth rallied together and created video love letters, offering their love and support to their Nigerian friends.  The youth most recently partnered with the Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Association and Austin Parks Foundation to clean up Bouldin Creek and the Greenbelt.  Youth from the One Village Project also spent this past Holiday painting a beautiful and uplifting mural at the Austin’s Children Shelter.

The Youth

Many of the youth who are a part of the One Village Project have experienced extreme poverty, religious persecution, child labor, gang violence, abuse and neglect; some have witnessed the atrocities of war and have literally run for their lives; many have been uprooted from their native cultures and struggle to integrate into an entirely foreign world.  All of the youth who are a part of this program are given the opportunity to experience themselves and their world through the eyes of equality, acceptance and compassion.  They are given a space to completely be themselves – as they are, they are given a safe space to heal,  a space to share their stories, a space to be heard, a space to be celebrated and a space to be empowered.  Through this initiative, the youth come to realize that sustainable peace begins within, recognizing that in order to create peace in the world they must first find peace within their own hearts.  The One Village Project brings together youth from all over the world including:

The Need

As large populations around the world are displaced by wars, poverty, and natural disasters, refugees and immigrant families are resettling in growing numbers in the United States. At a time when people seem increasingly polarized along lines of faith, nationality and political belief, the One Village Project addresses the need for adolescents, including refugee, immigrant and underserved youth, to develop values of peace, service, compassion, and leadership. Offering the youth creative and educational opportunities for community involvement, positive role models and mentors, and opportunities for youth to connect socially with an international peer group, the One Village Project is a model for sustainable peace that begins within the hearts of the youth.

The One Village Project also offers youth who have survived war and the hardships of extreme poverty an opportunity to develop trust, self-esteem, while offering support as they heal and adjust to life in a new country.  Regarding refugee youth specifically, who account for roughly 35% of the One Village population, there is a need not only to heal, but also to establish a support system around them that helps them adjust to their new lives.  This is a growing need not only in Austin, but throughout the country – 80,000 refugees are expected to enter the United States in 2010.  Once the refugees arrive in the United States, they struggle to build sustainable lives.  While parents must focus on survival needs like housing and employment, children in refugee families are often left with very little support as they adjust to a new school system, language barriers, and an unfamiliar culture.  The One Village Project provides refugee youth with an international community of loving and supportive peers and adults, easing their transition by offering compassionate counsel, peer support and opportunities to discuss past and present challenges caused by war, trauma, and poverty. The refugee youth also embrace the opportunity to become part of a larger community by serving the people within it.