Yvea Eaton, community hero
August 2004
Second Generation
by Mona Ausubel
Welcome to Second Generation! This is a space for younger voices, those belonging to “Generation Y,” one of the largest in this country’s history. According to the US Census, within the next several years, youth under 25 will rival the baby-boomer generation in population size. Members of this Second Generation are inspired, incredibly productive and committed, and absolutely necessary to the activist movement. This page will profile their efforts and showcase their writing and ideas.
Young people combine unique perspectives with inspiring stories and ideas. I am reminded of a speech activist and entrepreneur Paul Hawken gave at the Bioneers conference two years ago. He recounted visiting a classroom to talk about worldwide poverty to young kids. He explained that all over the world people were poor because they couldn’t get jobs. One little girl raised her hand and asked: “Why can’t they find work? Is all the work done?”
The work is not done. On this page, Common Ground welcomes young people and tomorrow’s visionaries to enter the dialogue with our present company of established thinkers, cultural creatives, and doers.
2004 Crissy Fields Community Heroes Awards
Yvea Eaton is one of six recipients of the Crissy Field Community Heroes 2004 awards presented on June 5th. This recent high school grad and activist is being honored for her commitment to better her community through charity drives, beach cleanups, tree planting and recycling efforts. Having grown up in the Bay Area, she has worked on native plant restoration at Crissy Field Tidal Marsh. Eaton recently participated in Crissy Field’s Inspiring Young Emerging Leaders program, a year-long internship that “encourages, prepares and challenges young people from diverse backgrounds to be advocates for environmental and social change.” A senior at Lick Wilmerding high school in San Francisco, Eaton plans to go to UC Santa Cruz next year to study social issues and ecology.
“Whatever I do,” she says, “I want to maintain my awareness of our world.”
Crissy Field and I-YEL can be found online at www.crissyfield.org
Young Philanthropists
On a recent Saturday, more than 70 young people from high schools around the Bay Area marked Global Youth Services Day by meeting to talk about using their monetary power to address global issues and problems. The occasion was the first annual conference on Youth Philanthropy Worldwide, an organization, founded in 2001 by Esther Hewlett and Anne McCarten-Gibbs, to “inspire young people to contribute to the global community.”
During her address to the students, YPW Executive Director Nicole Sanchez noted that Generation Y holds $211 billion in financial assets, and called on them to consider the amount of good that could be done if just 1% of that was channeled into grassroots efforts around the world. As its name suggests, YPW aims to teach young people how to financially support global issues. Because YPW includes young people from across the demographic and economic spectrum, some participants first need to raise the money they wish to give away. Students learn to write grant proposals and are shown the best ways to approach groups and individuals with their ideas.
Mary Hewlett, a Palo Alto High School sophomore, spoke of her commitment to raise $16,000 to fill a bus with books and toys. This moving library would visit schools in India to serve local children. One young donor, with access to a family foundation, volunteered to front half the cost if other participants could match it. Students rose to the challenge. One group is organizing a Bay-Area-wide slam-dunk contest. Another hopes to record a CD of local artists and donate all profits to the fundraiser. Every group was tossing out ideas, volunteering their time and energy, and couldn’t wait to get started. They talked about AIDS, poverty and the need for equal rights for women. They exchanged contact information and formed networks. As sixteen-year-old activist Lesley Chapman concluded: “The best part about being a teen activist is that I am still an idealist. I haven’t gotten jaded. I can see so many different problems ended in my lifetime.”
Mona Ausubel is a Berkeley-based writer. Contact YPW online at www.ypworldwide.org.
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