Young Leaders Program – Community of Mentors with Benja Mertz
Joy and Grief in Challenging Times
Bioneers is inherently a community of mentors—people eager to learn, share, explore and create together. The “Community of Mentors” space at Bioneers is an intergenerational container that offers youth the opportunity to be in small group mentoring sessions with Bioneers presenters. The presenters will share their life experience in an interactive dialogue with youth who are seeking guidance on their path to activism.
Young people today are faced with having to come of age during one of the most challenging periods in our history. In this session, Benja Mertz, Board Chair of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and founder/Director of Joyful Noise! Gospel Singers, will explore with us how to stay sane and centered during such uncertain and often frightening times. All youth are welcome to bring questions, hopes, grief, and all parts of themselves to the conversation. Hosted by Sam Burris-Debosky and justine epstein of Weaving Earth.
Kinzie Room, Brower Center
March 27th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm
Panelists
Benja Mertz
Performer, Educator, Folklorist, and Song-Leader
Benja Mertz, a performer, educator, public speaker, folklorist, and song-leader, is Board Chair of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, an immigrant rights and anti-incarceration nonprofit organization. Also founder and Director of Joyful Noise! Gospel Singers in Sonoma County, Benja trained in song-leading through legendary programs such as Dr. Ysaye Barnwell's Vocal Community and Bobby McFerrin's CircleSong Schools and is part of a long tradition of writers and musicians at the forefront of social change in America.
Sam Burris-Debosky
Weaving Earth
Sam Burris-Debosky, a farmer, carpenter, and rites-of-passage guide dedicated to imagining and building resilient, flourishing communities, co-founded and directed Village Farm at Stanley, in Aurora, Colorado, an urban farm dedicated to food-justice and education. Sam is working at this year’s Bioneers Conference as part of the Weaving Earth team to help host the Community of Mentors sessions.
justine epstein
