For this church year, we dedicate our monthly offerings to organizations led by youth and/or committed to the development of youth leadership. For the month of October, we share our plate with ELSO, Experience Life Science Outdoors. ELSO’s mission is to teach and frame STEAM — Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math — as well as nature based education through a lens that centers and elevates the stories, ways of knowing, individual needs, and lived experiences of Black and Brown communities.

One of ELSO’s programs, Your Street Your Voice, aims to enable power and agency for youth to be leaders in their communities and use design as a tool for racial justice. Introducing design careers to high school students creates a wave of design thinkers equipped to be community leaders and to design in ways that do not perpetuate systems of oppression. Students leave the program as critical thinkers and with confidence to advocate for equitable and prosperous Black and Brown communities.