a youth super alliance

Submitted by nick on Tue, 04/17/2007 - 10:53pm.

nick

Posts: 13
Joined: 2007-01-28

OK. I had this idea earlier today at the meeting we had. Basically, we talked a little bit about doing an gigantic fund raising event with a bunch of other similar, youth-focussed organizations. Then people were like "oh but we need a space. damn." then I started thinking about how we could get a space.

I came up with the idea that, instead of all these organizations collaborating on one event, what if we each tried really hard to raise a bunch of money and pooled it together to buy a huge space that we could all share. Some organizations, for instance, can get grants. Others can throw parties. Others can sell things. Alone, none of us can afford a space -but together, if we really tried, maybe we could.

Once we get a space, we're set forever. we can do all sorts of things there. All of these other organizations seem to be in a relatively similar position - YELL is about to be existing outside of their highschool, The Icarus Project is saying they need a space, CAFETY / Youth ACT are probably in a similar position, NYRA too. I overheard someone from A New World in Our Hearts saying they wanted to get a space (they had one, but they lost it). There's probably at least ten-fifteen organizations I can think of that would be great if only they had a central space.

PHASE 1: renting a space

If there's 10 organizations (that's on the low end of the estimate), and the rent was $10,000 a month (on the high end of what it might actually cost), each organization would have to raise, on average $1000 a month. that's not hard (the house some of live in right now is $1300 a month and we all manage to make rent being only semi-employed), especially if you can do events at the space. if we have a range of events, from all-age $5 shows to dance parties where the drinks are $10 each, we'd not only be able to make the rent, but we'd be making profit. we save this profit, along with other profit we make from grants, fund raising, distroing, etc. eventually, we could move into...

PHASE 2: buying a space

I looked it up on craigslist for a ballpark figure for a warehouse space in brooklyn and it seems like there's a range from $500,000 to $2,000,000. That would take a long long time to raise, but if their are a bunch of organizations involved and we have a temporary space, it's possible to eventually raise that.

There's a lot of other things... there's all sorts of zoning restrictions, fire hazard rules, alcohol restrictions, noise permits... but if we can get enough people into this project and have a little bit of luck with finding a good space, I'd be pretty confident we could figure it out.

What do you guys think?

Wed, 04/18/2007 - 4:08pm

SystemReject

Posts: 62
Joined: 2006-12-31

damn if only i was that good

damn if only i was that good at planning things out haha. sounds like a great idea. i might eventually head up there and try to help out some after i graduate, who knows. there's so much stuff i'd like to do, but i can see myself settling down up there and becoming a more active member of MYN.

Wed, 04/18/2007 - 8:33pm

nick

Posts: 13
Joined: 2007-01-28

awesome

hopefully we'll actually have our shit together when you come up. we make ambitious plans all the time, but this time looks a little bit more promising.

Wed, 04/18/2007 - 11:08pm

kid_prototype

Posts: 126
Joined: 2006-12-17

making it happen

i think working together to get a space is a great idea
we should pitch this to some of the other organizations and have a big meeting where everyone talks about what they are looking for in a space, how they plan to fundraise, etc. I want to just start bringing this idea up to friends and stuff, and then get together to write some kind of call-out that we can send to a bunch of organizations. For now, feel free to post your daydreams about how this super-space will be!

--sarah

Sun, 04/22/2007 - 2:57am

xcriteria

Posts: 92
Joined: 2006-12-04

Yeah, let's make this

Yeah, let's make this happen! We're just gonna need to raise a lot of money. I'll post some more thoughts on that later.

Tue, 04/24/2007 - 10:24pm

kid_prototype

Posts: 126
Joined: 2006-12-17

visions for the space

i think now is a good time to start clarifying our visions for this space
with so many organizations, involved, there will be a lot of different ideas that we'll have to balance out and bring together. These are some of the ideas poeple have brought up so far:

offices for all the organizations involved
shows and events
art studio and print shop
library
art gallery
after school programs
bookstore, cafe, record store, or other small business that could bring in $ for the space
some kind of safe space/shelter for at-risk youth
spaces for meetings and classes
a small garden
murals
a kitchen

i think we all agree that there wold be a big youth focus and things would be pretty much youth-run. People have brought up the issues of staff/volunteers and who would run the different activities. I suppose that part of the answer is that the organizations who are working out of the building (i picture them having offices upstairs and all the activities happening downstairs)would manage activities that tie into their focus. I think ABC No Rio is a good model because all the activities in the building are run by collectives who are responsible for their own projects. I guess there some people who make building-wide decisions too. the issue of people working in the building ties into the issue of the building making money to sustain itself. Like maybe we could rent out some of the space to different organizations to help cover costs. And money ties into the issue of how the building will be funded and how that funding may affect what we can do with the space. One person mentioned gov't grants, this may be possible, though i am concerned about how many rules and regulations we'd have to follow if we had to answer to the gov't. I think ideally we'd raise money as much as possible through our own work, and from private foundations or individuals who might give us more leeway.

let's talk more about our visions for the space (which needs a cool name, by the way), and how to make it happen.

--sarah

Tue, 04/24/2007 - 11:26pm

mRg (not verified)

Posts: 29
Joined:

wow

as i said, i'm in no frame of mind at the moment to offer any nuggets of thought, but i just gotta say, sarah, that is pretty much it in a nutshell.

I wanna cry that description sounds so beautiful. the safe space for at-risk youth really struck me, but yeah, all that stuff you mentioned would be so fucking marvelous!

-Michael

Wed, 04/25/2007 - 1:02am

xcriteria

Posts: 92
Joined: 2006-12-04

...

So, Brian from cafety.org came over yesterday to discuss the space idea...

I'll summarize my main points from that conversation, the following conversation, and in general...

- contributions from individuals or small foundations would be much preferable to government/corporate grants (and statistically, individuals give a lot more than other funding sources. And, individuals' contributions tend to have a lot less strings attached than governments' contributions.

- much of the expenses -- at least the ongoing expenses -- should come from projects/"(small) businesses"/"collectives" that operate within the space. For example, an internet cafe, some kind of bookstore or mail(/internet)-order place, etc.

- it would be best to have a space as "open" as a typical cafe or bookstore... I mean, we don't want to be kicking people out for not buying anything; but, at the same time, we should let people in without swiping or showing an ID card.

And... we need to work out how to fund this without being too "commercialistic" or too dependent on the government.

Mon, 05/07/2007 - 5:46pm

mynweb

Posts: 490
Joined: 2006-10-31

space proposal -- rought draft

please let me know what you think:

Proposal for a by-youth-for-youth Community Space

Need for the space

As members of several youth-led organizations in NYC, we see the need for a central space for youth-led organizations to share their efforts and for NYC youth to have a common center to gather, find support, learn, and create. There are a number of “homeless” organizations in the city with a range of focuses and approaches, but with no real place to do our work. Renting or buying a space is far to expensive and difficult for one small organization to accomplish, but the combined efforts of five to ten of our organizations may put this goal within our reach. This kind of collaboration is not only important as a strategy for affording the space. The shared space would provide educational, cultural, health and advocacy programs under one roof, as well as forming a strong network of all of the organizations involved.

Visions for the space

We envision a space run by and for young people, a space that reflects the needs, goals, and creative ideas of everyone involved. We imagine a space where and there are no boundaries between those sharing and receiving resources, because everyone is recognized as both having skills to contribute and also as needing support. With so many organizations, involved, there will be a lot of different ideas that we'll have to balance out and bring together. These are some of the ideas people have brought up so far:
· offices for all the organizations involved
· open space for shows and events
· art studio, gallery and print shop
· music and recording and practice studio
· spaces for meetings and classes
· after school programs
· a 24 hour safe space/drop-in/shelter for at-risk youth
· a bookstore, cafe, record store, distro or other small business that could bring in money for the space
· a small garden
· murals
· a library
· a kitchen
We’ve been picturing something like a big warehouse with offices on the top floor and some large open spaces along with smaller rooms on the ground floor, and hopefully some outdoor space as well.

Steps to getting the space

The first step is for everyone interested in making this space happen to get together and have a big meeting where we can discuss our visions for the space what skills and resources we can each contribute to this goal, and different strategies for obtaining and sustaining the space. We are thinking of having this meeting in the first week of June. We’ll need to identify what roles each organization can take on and stay in close communication so that we can address different issues that arise.

The next step would be to fundraise for the space. We all have different ways of fundraising that we could pursue together or as individual organizations, and then pool our resources and share the space that we obtain. These are some of the ideas we have for raising money:

· grants and donations
· selling posters, clothes, books, records, crafts, and food
· events – parties, shows, open mics, art auctions

We may want to rent a smaller space temporarily and use it for activities that could raise money for the larger space. As we get closer to having enough money to obtain our space, we’ll need to research in-depth on the kinds of spaces that are available, what regulations we’ll have to follow, and more. We should also think about ways the space can sustain itself financially such as:

· having a bookstore, cafe, record store, distro, or other small business that could bring in money for the space
· doing events that raise money in the space
· sliding scale classes and programs in the space
· renting out rooms to other organizations

This is just a rough draft of our ideas. Please get in touch if you’re interested in getting involved! Email us at . Also there is a discussion happening on Misled Youth’s website which everyone is welcome to participate in -- http://www.misled-youth.org/node/193.

Tue, 05/15/2007 - 1:45am

kid_prototype

Posts: 126
Joined: 2006-12-17

an inspiration for us....

someone just told me about this really cool all ages youth-run music space in seattle...check it out...www.theveraproject.org

--sarah

Tue, 05/29/2007 - 12:48am

mynweb

Posts: 490
Joined: 2006-10-31

invitation to space meeting

so we wrote up an invitation for the june 16th meeting and sent it out to a bunch of people. check it out:

Hello old friends and new co-conspirators --
Check out this invitation/proposal and let us know what you think!

We want to start a by-youth-for-youth community space here in NYC and we thought you may be interested in collaborating with us.

As members of several youth-led organizations, we see the need for a central space for youth-led organizations to share their efforts and for NYC youth to have a common center to gather, find support, learn, and create. There are a number of “homeless” organizations in the city with a range of focuses and approaches, but with no real place to do our work. And there are a number of youth and community centers around the city, but the broad range of activities that all of our organizations could coordinate would be unique to this space.

Renting or buying a space is far too expensive and difficult for one small organization to accomplish, but the combined efforts of five to ten of our organizations may put this goal within our reach. This kind of collaboration is not only important as a strategy for affording the space – it also allows us to provide educational, cultural, health and advocacy programs under one roof, as well as forming a strong network of all of the organizations involved. Please see the attached proposal for more on this idea.

We’re inviting you to our first meeting for this project, taking place on Saturday, June 16th at 1pm at the International Center for Tolerance Education. The Center is located in "D.U.M.B.O." Brooklyn at 25 Washington Street, 4th Floor Brooklyn, NY 11201; phone: (718) 237-6262; fax: (718) 237-6264. Take the F train to York Street, the A/C to High Street, or the 2/3 to Clark Street. Please RSVP to let us know if you or someone from your organization can make it! Also, if the date doesn’t work for you, let us know alternate times that you would be available for. If many people request an alternate date, we can change it.
These are some of the things we want to discuss in the meeting:
· What are our visions for a by-youth-for youth community space?
· What needs of our projects can be filled by this space?
· What resources can we each offer (skills, funds, people, etc) to contribute to the creation of this space?
· What are the best strategies for creating this space? What other spaces can we look at as examples?
· Who else might be interested in working on this project?

We hope that we can work together towards this common goal. Please pass this invitation along to anyone who you think may be interested!

Stay in touch!
-- the (soon-to-be-formed) youth space coalition

Mon, 06/18/2007 - 2:41pm

mynweb

Posts: 490
Joined: 2006-10-31

June 16th Meeting Notes

Who was there:

Michael – Misled Youth, Icarus Project
Gabe – Misled Youth
Ceecee – Misled Youth
Leanne – Misled Youth, YELL
Ingrid – Misled Youth
Sarah Q – Misled Youth
Nick – Misled Youth
Erin – Misled Youth
Jared – Misled Youth
Brendan – Misled Youth
Johannah – herself, Streetworks
Thaddeus – A New World In Our Hearts
Brian – Youth Act, Agents of Change
Jessica -- ?

We introduced ourselves and the organizations we represented. Members of Misled Youth then presented the ideas we have come up with for what this space can provide and how it can work. We spent some time explaining why the space is so critically needed. We discussed other community and youth-serving spaces in NYC, and how our vision is both similar and different.

During and after the break, people became interested in focusing on strategies for obtaining the space. Funding the space through events, selling materials, and grants were all discussed. We also discussed ways to sustain the space financially once we have it through events, sliding scale classes and facilities, a bookstore, a café, a record distro, collecting dues, etc. One likely strategy for us would be to first raise money to rent a smaller space, where we could do fundraising events and sell materials in addition to running our projects on a small scale. Eventually we would be able to move into a bigger space and expand our work.

We then discussed next steps:
Contacting more groups about collaboration – Sarah and Thaddeus
Looking at potential spaces online and in person – Nick, Brendan, Jared, Leanne, and Brian
Learning more from existing spaces
Learning skills that will help us realize this vision
Researching Grants

***Saturday, July 7th will be the next meeting about space collaboration***
We will try to book the same time and location for this meeting. This meeting will focus on solidifying who will be part of this collaboration and what they will bring to it. We will also have example of potential spaces and their costs at the meeting.

Thank you all for participating in the beginning stages of this big beautiful ambitious project. We hope to stay in touch and collaborate in the future!

-- Misled Youth