Support Today's Youth Redesigning for Tomorrow's Equity
Your gift as a Power Shifter provides the technology, transportation, and mental health stipends for our Seeds of Power Fellows.
Since 2014, CRXLAB has been positively impacting the healing of Black and Brown communities in our region by strengthening Black and Latino/a/x/e youth with a deep awareness of themselves, racial and ethnic systemic consciousness within the United States, fostering a sense of agency, and providing access to institutional, individual and collective power. For example, Quinton Ward joined CRXLAB as a 2018 Community Design Apprentice addressing the impact of limited public transportation access in Kingshighway and Fairground. Building on the lessons learned through CDAP, in 2020, Quinton (at the age of 23 years old) was named the new Executive Director of the St. Louis Metro Market. Since then, Quinton has led the merger of the Metromarket with Operations Food Search, received numerous awards (including his podcast “Speak Up St. Louis” being named CAM St. Louis’ 2023 Podcast-In–Residence), and continued to partner with CRXLAB (e.g. being an inaugural Seeds of Power Fellow in 2020, Collective Impact team member, and more).
Through SOP, youth gain the capacity to design interventions that dismantle existing racial and health inequities, leading to the co-creation of a society that recognizes and embraces the humanity, rights, and power of Black and Latino/a/x/e people. In the current cohort, one Fellow is working towards creating a healing space for the community to gather and build relationships in relation to the Stop Cop City movement. Another SOP Fellow is working on an art therapy workshop series to nurture healthy creative self-expression for Black Women.
Funding will allow for sustained investments in our youth to build the capacity of SOP. CRXLAB believes in compensating youth for their work, and, as such, SOP Fellows get fair compensation of $25/hour, mental well-being assistance, and technology grants.