By Stephen Smoot
The word silo has come to mean more in recent years than simply a place to store harvested agricultural products. It has come to represent a mindset in which people get closed off, or close themselves off, from different people or groups.
When children find themselves in such situations, they may have inadvertently cut off those who could serve as meaningful peers or parts of their support system as they navigate the shoals of childhood and the teenage years.
It also severs them from a number of opportunities for personal development and also helping others. As Katharan Richardson from Potomac Highlands Guild shares, many of these children “have a vision. They need a platform to share their voice and provide impact to the community.”
Richardson and D. J. Taylor, seeing the need, formed Y.O.U. 304.
Y.O.U. stands for Youth Outreach United, an organization using the Gospel to help to promote youth empowerment. Founded in 2003 in Alpharetta, just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, the organization has coincided with the rise of children’s participation in the digital communication age.
According to its website, “the significance of our calling has only become greater and because a large number of students do not attend church, Y.O.U. wants to help unite churches in reaching out to their communities and galvanizing students to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ to others where they live.”
Another aspect of the organization is that it has the power to bring together children from struggling, dysfunctional, and non-functional households to give a safe haven to share and grow.
Developing leadership with a Christian grounding serves as the primary mission of Y.O.U., but youth groups under its umbrella are encouraged to develop creative programming to accomplish that goal.
“We use a hub and spoke model,” explained Richardson. The hub represents leadership skills while each spoke serves as a “coalition” that follows a specific path to accomplish the main goal. Some, she explained, “have musical talent” and can “use that to help other kids.” Drama serves as another example of using a skill to help a child find their voice and even become a leader.
Another coalition can focus on preventing kids from getting addicted to nicotine, alcohol, or other drugs.
Richardson also stated that she wanted to start a coalition around nature activities, such as fishing, hunting, and hiking. Regardless of topic, the main goal outside of leadership development lies in “spreading positivity, really.”
Once started, the group and its coalitions will meet biweekly to discuss, share, and work on their projects.
Y.O.U. 304 will hold its kickoff event on Saturday August 23 at Moorefield Town Park, starting at 6 p.m. There will be games and fun for all ages, food, and even live music from Faith Delawder and Seth Addison. Younger kids will enjoy the bouncy house that will be set up. Richardson shared that “we’ve gotten a lot of faith-based organizations who said they’d be there” as well as the Petersburg High School resource officer and his cruiser.
Joining the organization gives kids the chance to forge connections with others, develop resiliency, empower themselves, and find an identity – all on the way to learning what leadership is and how they can lead. Another emphasis lies on making Y.O.U. 304 a place where children from challenging situations can find stability, security, and consistency.
This creates the foundation from which they can find grounding and the soil from which their aspirations can germinate and grow.
We have to teach them to be the future leaders,” Richardson said.
