Peoples Climate March Youth Convening - What Happened & What Comes Next
One day before the Peoples Climate March, hundreds of students and youth gathered in DC for the PCM Youth Convening. The next day, we joined with thousands of other young people to march, sing and chant in the Youth Bloc, amongst a crowd of more than 200,000!
It was an incredible thing to be part of. As one of the host organizations, we at the DSN want to thank all who traveled from near and far to share your stories, learn organizing skills and strategies, and dig into the hard work of building a powerful youth movement that will fight for climate justice for all of us.
Here’s a glimpse of the energy and power that participants brought to the Youth Convening. See more highlights below!
Click here to watch the video.
We know that the Youth Convening and the march were only step one. It’s up to us to use PCM as a launching point and bring the momentum back to our campuses and communities. In just the last two weeks, hundreds of students have taken action on their campuses to fight for divestment, showing that the momentum is not going away. We'll send out a full update on Spring Escalation soon, but in the meantime...
Here are some next steps and easy ways to plug in:
Join the Power Shift Network’s online organizing community on Slack. Collaborate online with youth organizers from many different organizations, communities and campuses; stay up to date with upcoming trainings and events, find out what’s going on in your region, see job postings, and more. And if you’re a leader with an organization that would like to be more involved in youth climate organizing and movement building, apply here to have your group join the Power Shift Network!
Get involved with organizations you talked to at the Youth Convening. Groups including350.org, Earth Guardians, Alliance for Climate Education, iMatter, Our Children’s Trust, Put A Price On It, PLAN, Sierra Student Coalition, and Sunrise (a new movement organization that just launched at PCM!) helped make the Convening a success, and are engaged in powerful work all across the country. Take a look and join one!
Continue telling stories of youth resistance using the hashtag #YouthRiseUp. On the day of the convening, we were the #1 non-sponsored hashtag in DC. Let’s keep that momentum going!
Thank you for creating such a powerful day with us, whether you attended in person, donated, or followed along on social media. These times are hard, but young people will continue to fight for our futures and lead the way towards climate justice for all. Moments like this truly do make me believe that we will win.
There are too many great moments from the convening to count, but here are a few highlights:
Nyiesha Mallett with youth leaders from UPROSE address the audience.
Participants chanting and clapping along.
Youth Convening speakers, clockwise from top left: Nyiesha Mallett (UPROSE), Yong Jung Cho (#AllOfUs and Lead Locally), Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Earth Guardians), and Stephen O’Hanlon (Swarthmore Mountain Justice). Not pictured are Alexis White Hat (Rosebud Sioux Tribe), and Adria Peterkin (Howard University). Photo by Power Shift Network.
High school students make signs for the march at the Convening Art Build. Photo by iMatter.