Youth Community Organizing Groups Fostering Sociopolitical Wellbeing: Three Healing-Oriented Values to Support Activism

Abstract

Young organizers are increasingly calling for social movements to center healing alongside activism as they build political power. Campaigns that solely focus on policy wins or base-building can lead to burnout and frustration. Sociopolitical action is more likely to be sustained if accompanied by experiences of care, belonging, and mutual support. Such an approach makes sociopolitical wellbeing central to organizing. Although the research literature has offered conceptualizations of healing, and compelling evidence of health-related outcomes, we still lack empirical examples of what it looks like for youth community organizing (YCO) groups to weave a commitment to healing into sustained collective action. Drawing on qualitative data from the Powerful Youth, Powerful Communities International Study on Youth Organizing, we define and demonstrate three interconnected healing-oriented values that foster what we characterize as sociopolitical wellbeing. The three values, which we illustrate via fieldnotes and interview excerpts, are collectivized care, spiritual activism, and freedom dreaming. YCO holds promising implications for supporting youth engagement in democratic movements for education, racial, gender, economic, and environmental justice.

Keywords

• youth
• sociopolitical development
• healing
• wellbeing
• community organizing
• activism