More than 20 members of United Way’s Racial Equity Coalition (REC)—a coalition of 14 community-based organizations serving youth of color—gathered for a Creative Facilitations training last Thursday. Over the next two days, REC members embraced their own creativity by learning new ways to engage and empower young people through play and art while building community across their organizations.

As they sat in a circle at Othello Commons, Arlene Martínez Vázquez, a facilitator from Partners for Youth Empowerment, emphasized that everyone is creative.

“We cannot make things happen in the real world that we cannot imagine in our heads,” Vázquez said.

The Racial Equity Coalition is a multi-racial and multicultural coalition led by people of color for people of color. REC is funded via a public-private partnership between United Way of King County and King County, whereby the coalition guides and leads the vision for the work. For example, King County provided funds for capacity building, and United Way facilitated conversations about how the funds should be spent.

When Jess Green—Deputy Director of FEEST, an organization focused on building youth advocacy and collective power in schools—brought the idea of this facilitation training to the other members of the Racial Equity Coalition, they collectively agreed to utilize King County’s funding to learn additional skills for supporting youth.

During the training, members were excited about the opportunity to connect with other professionals working with youth in the Racial Equity Coalition. In addition to FEEST, staff from All Girl Everything Ultimate Program, Powerful Voices, Asian Counseling & Referral Service, Open Doors for Multicultural Families, the 4C Coalition, and Community Passageways attended the training.

Jess Green connected with facilitators Devon Little and Arlene Martínez Vázquez through Partners for Youth Empowerment. They helped REC members use art as a way for youth and adults to feel seen and heard and to build connections with one another.

The room filled with laughter as Devon and Arlene taught folks name games, had them toss imaginary balls to each other, and perform collaboratively written poems using props. They allowed REC members to step into the place of the youth to see firsthand how creativity can create safety and promote community.

One activity included using visualization to showcase their relationships to creativity. Yuna Martin, from FEEST, reflected on the importance of such activities.

“There is more than one way to ask a question, and sometimes asking different questions unlocks a different perspective,” Martin said.

Over the course of the training, other REC members reflected that the training allowed them to think about incorporating creativity into their programs in new ways and feel vulnerable with each other.

After 2 full days of Creative Facilitation training, members continue to build community within their work to support youth of color. Jess Green remarked that they all left “feeling closer to one another, more in touch with our inner creativity, and better equipped to bring creative tools to the youth spaces we facilitate.” 

Thank you to Othello Commons for hosting the group for free and to Café Red, Taco Street, and Huong Duong for working with us to cater the event.

Written by Holly Lackey, Community Impact Manager at United Way of King County