On Tuesday, March 21 at American University's Battelle Atrium, GYPA had the pleasure of having an engaging conversation with Randolph Catter, the Director of Children and Youth Programmes at Search for Common Ground about best practices in building youth organizations. This was the Youth on the Brink discussion in the Think Again! series. We had an intimate setting of a few participants, with a wide range of knowledge and background experience in the field. We had people from AU, KU, GMU, and AU's Peacebuilding and Development Institute. His wife joined us as well with some essential insights into effective group building. Randolph's main message was that organizations must not have a cookie cutter approach to these kinds of "interventions," but take ideas from the community itself and build on their cultural experience. He also, in workshop style, took us through a brainstorming session on what kind of organization we would form if we had $2 million in funding from the EU. We came up with some excellent ideas and continued bringing up relevant questions, like validity and funding. Randolph did not miss a beat in approaching this broad subject of youth involvement and leadership.

Stay tuned for more THINK AGAIN! events.