Young Antiracist Leadership Project (YALP)

• Money raised

During the accelerator, we achieved both of our goals: we raised $5,000.00 USD and had more than 40 donors. We were also very lucky to have several recurring donors which are still contributing to our cause. Thanks to the many contributions we have had, we raised our goal three times since we joined GlobalGiving. Our initial goal of 6,000 USD was raised to $8,000 USD thanks to the immense support we had. We received many donations with messages expressing support to our cause. Many of our donors continue to give money as of today because they too want to see a second generation of YALP students. Our mission has always been to support young antiracist leaders and their projects, so the fact that we, as of today, have raised beyond our initial goal and are standing at a little over $7,000.00 USD, this money will allow us to support more underpriviledge students and increase the diversity and expertise of our staff.

• Achievements

Since we obtained the funds we have made significant advances in our project. We have secured a sponsorship from Scotiabank Mexico that will allow us to bring high value content to our students. We have already set up the eligibility criteria for the first generation of antiracist leaders. These requirements can be summarised as follows: The applicants must be individuals between 18 and 29 years old, they should speak Spanish fluently, they must have full-time availability, reside in Mexico but do not need to be nationals, and to have access to the internet. Additionally, they must have a project proposal which aims to help combat racism. The call for applications will be launched on August 1st 2021. In the last two weeks of July we have been promoting our project on social media and we will also have a Q&A prior to the call for applications so we can bring applicants and the staff of RacismoMX closer together.

We have also set up our education programme for the two weeks which include the following topics: Race, racialization and mestizaje, white privilege, intersectionality, quantitative data to combat racism, Indigenous Languages and Indigenous cosmovisions, Extractivism, AfroMexican Movements, Antiracism, Politics and Lobbying, Freedom of Expression, Social and Mass media, Digital Activism, Self-care, Trauma and self-esteem, and Human Rights Protection. We are currently in the process of selecting and inviting our teaching staff. This process has not been completed yet because we want to ensure our staff is a manifestation to our commitment to diversity and teaching excellence 

• Future plans

As to the activities that still need to be fulfilled, apart from the organization of the actual course, we need to finalise our budget so the money raised via GlobalGiving is spent wisely. We also need to book our keynote speakers and complete the selection process of the students that will participate. Finally, we will send the material to the students and we will assign tutors from the RacismoMX team so they can guide and support the students through their time in YALP. Our staff is working constantly and hard to begin teaching and learning about racism in Mexico.

Links:

• Call for applications Q&A

• Activity Report (PDF)