Last month CDF-CA participated in two excursions to strengthen the movements for boys and men of color, and women and girls of color. CDF-CA joined all the sisters on July 17-22 at The California Endowment’s annual Sisterhood Rising Leadership Retreat with 100 young women, girls, and support staff from the 14 Building Healthy Communities (BHC) sites across California. CDF-CA supported BHC Long Beach youth at the Sierra Nevada Journeys Camp to focus on leadership development, healing, advocacy, and fun. We explored gender and racial justice topics, social justice movement building, while also testing our teambuilding and fearlessness on the ropes courses.
Days later on July 24-30, CDF-CA participated in the fifth annual Sons and Brothers Camp in Portola, California. Approximate 150 young boys and men of color, mentors, and elders from across representing BHC and Alliance for Boys and Men of Color were present for the week-long camp for Boys/Bois and Young Men of Color, ages 15–19 years old. The focus was to build the capacity of young men to become effective community leaders on issues of health and social justice.
Participants took part in a wide range of activities designed for self-discovery of their personal identity and community issues, as well as activities to encourage physical movement and play, such as challenge courses, kayaking, swimming, basketball, football, ultimate frisbee and much more.
The term “boi” was added to uplift and recognized the gender identities within the masculine spectrum at the Sons and Brothers camp. The movement embraces bois and adults who identify as trans, gender non-conforming, and genderqueer.
CDF-CA would like to give a big shout out to the hundreds of young women and men who traveled into the beautiful Northern California mountains to add to the movements of sisters and brothers rising together!