Help Empower Our Youth This Summer! ..::BASS 2012::..
Sarwang Parikh
Hi Community.
Some of you know that last year I was involved with organizing a life changing week for South Asian American teenagers in the Bay Area. It was life changing for the youth, yes. But it was life changing for me as well, because I was able to build community with an amazing group of Desi activists and to create the kind of empowering weekend that we wish we could have had as a struggling Desi youth.
This year I am once again helping to organize the Bay Area Solidarity Summer (BASS). This time, BASS is a five-day four-night camp from August 2-6th in Berkeley where participants will learn about progressive issues, gain organizing skills, connect with South Asian activists and practice leadership. I’m co-organizing the project with a volunteer collective of teachers, organizers, artists, programmers, lawyers, and health professionals who are devoted to cultivating a strong, resilient, and conscious South Asian community. And it is an amazing thing.
The first round application deadline is this Friday May 25th - and we need your help! Last year was the first year we did this camp and it was a resounding success. This year, we’re going bigger – from three days to five! And we’re trying to get the word out to even more South Asian communities in California.
I'm asking you to help in THREE ways:
1. Donate! Help me reach my goal of raising $500 dollars! Go online to http://www.solidaritysummer.org/donate.html and make a tax-deductible donation today. (And if you do, let me know so I can thank you!)
2. Talk us up! Like our Facebook page and share our website (http://www.SolidaritySummer.org/) on your status update, twitter, and tumblr. Wanna forward this email? Please do! Have a reporter, funder, teacher, funder, youth we need to connect with? Introduce us!
3. Get Out the Word! You have teens that you know should be here this summer! Encourage them to apply by May 25th to make first round applications! Spread the flyer (on our site here) to South Asian youth, educators, parents, high schools, afterschool programs, houses of worship, cultural centers, youth groups, conferences, listservs, bulletin boards, websites, bhangra parties, punk shows, etc. The deadline is rolling, but spots will be filling quick - application is available through this link right here!
For more information, check out www.solidaritysummer.org. For a great blog, check out Tara's entry here.
And of course, feel free to contact me directly. I feel blessed to get the opportunity to build a space like this once again and am looking forward to doing it with your support.
Sarwang
"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting."
- E.E. Cummings US poet (1894 - 1962)
“Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it.”
- Rabindranath Tagore Bengali poet (1861-1941)