Editor’s Note: Natalie Castellanos is the co-founder of Inspired Generation, a nonprofit youth empowerment organization. Inspired Generation's mission is to empower young people by inspiring them to engage with themselves, their opportunities, their communities and their world. You should totally check out their website! www.inspiredgen.org/ And, if you're interested, you can read more of Natalie's life-musings, here: www.nataliekc.blogspot.
Since the birth of our baby – iNspired Generation – my business partner, Christina, and I have known it is more than an organization; it is a movement. Our mission is to empower inspired young people to take action to improve themselves and improve the world. And our vision is a movement of young people inspired to make the world a better place.
On the topic of movements, have you been paying attention to the Occupy Wall Street? Personally, I marvel at the pace with which the movement spread, almost overnight. Within days of the first protest the movement spread from its epicenter in Lower Manhattan to localities all over the United States and the world. Fuelled by feelings of discontent and a desire to do something, Occupiers the world over have demonstrated solidarity and a sense of resolve that merits admiration – regardless of whether their viewpoint elicits in you support or scorn.
As an aspiring movement-starter and co-founder of a nonprofit youth organization, I am particularly keen to observe the Occupy movement. It is being suggested that the Occupy movement is our generation's – Generation Y's – social movement.
Do you believe that it is?
Only time and history will tell.
And if Occupy is our generation's social movement, then I hope it is one of several social movements we generate. Because if it isn't obvious yet, kind reader, our world desperately needs more than a single movement spurred by dissatisfaction.
We are privileged with life at arguably the most remarkable and important place in human history. Billions of individuals all over the planet possess – literally at their fingertips – powerful tools for communication, connection and collaboration. Today's social movements don't – nor will they – look like yesterday's social movements. Generation Y’s social movements will not be like previous generations’ social movements.
iNspired Generation was born to be more than a nonprofit – we are a social movement, and we are not alone. Our contemporaries – nonprofits, businesses and social enterprises striving to inspire and empower Generation Y – too are modern movement-starters.
The challenge for us as Gen-Y movement-starters is simple, and important: how can we best coordinate and collaborate to continue improving our shared world? Because through our missions we change the world; and with our vision – iNspired Generation’s and our contemporaries’ create the future.
Are you an inspired young person, seeking opportunities to improve the world? Visitwww.inspiredgen.
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Editor’s Note: As students head back to school, YSA is highlighting education and service in our Back to School Education blog series. Read blog posts from students, educators, and service-learning experts about their experiences with education and service.
I am a part of Generation Y… but I hope our generational successors remember us as "Generation Y Not?" True to the words of George Bernard Shaw we do not merely see—we dream.
Many, however, are quick to point out our tendency to over-dream and under-do. My generation is criticized for being lazy, selfish, over-indulgent and under-disciplined. In many ways, these stereotypes are true—I see them in myself, and I see them in my peers. But that’s okay. It would be inhuman for us to be flawless. We are, after all, human. Ironically, therein lays my generation’s greatest characteristic: we are human, and we are acutely aware of our shared humanity.
I believe people are defined not by faults, but by strengths. As a generation, we are strong in our idealism, our altruism, and our open-mindedness. We are interested. We are passionate. We are adventurous. We are the most connected, educated and aware generation that has ever walked this planet. Ideas of dignity and equality were sown deeply into our roots and those fruits are only beginning to bloom.
I also believe, as humans, we are defined not by our success and accomplishments, but by the humility and grace with which we face failure and defeat. Our generation has known success, but we know far more defeat. This defeat is not ours alone, and not entirely of our making. All of humanity is currently being defeated and humbled: long-standing institutions are being eroded and the technology of our time is revealing far more about our world and ourselves than we are comfortable seeing. Appropriately, our generation is making the uncomfortable transition from adolescence into adulthood just as all of humanity is transitioning into a new, uncertain era. We are learning to grow and thrive during times of discomfort and uncertainty; we are learning—with humility and grace— to continue dreaming despite the darkness.
Now, we simply need help "doing."
Fortunately we live at a time when nonprofits and social enterprise devoted to empowering young people—ensuring young people are equipped to ‘do’—are flourishing. These organizations are sprouting up all over the United States and the world, nourished by the Internet and social media. They are leading the global dialogue relating to social change—identifying problems, and creating solutions. Organizations like Youth Service America (YSA) and countless others are using service to fortify Generation ‘Y Not’ and empowering us to “do" and make a difference.
Generation ‘Y Not’ is just approaching the helm of humanity, as our generational trailblazers arrive at age 30. We are not balking at the great global challenges of today; we are carrying the weight of the world on our strong—albeit flawed—shoulders; carrying the world toward our dreams. In so doing, we will confront the challenges of our time and inspire a succession of generations who will not merely see and ask ‘why?’ They will dream, declare ‘why not?’—and they will do.
