6 GROUNDCOVER NEWS MAKING CHANGE MARCH 8, 2024 Youth in action: Ypsilanti middle schools interview candidates for Washtenaw County Sheriff On February 22 I had the pleasure of attending an event, invited by Dr. Anna Gersh (who I met when she joined the board of directors of Groundcover News when I was also a board member), to sell and represent Groundcover News. Being a salesman, at first my mindset approaching the event was just based on the selling, not really knowing what the event was about. After attending, I found out that it was the Youth Lead Community Forum on the Washtenaw County Sheriff. It was an idea Gersh had that she activated through her organization called the One Love Symposium, which co-creates and co-facilitates exciting and unique learning events for all. With an election coming up for a new sheriff in November, Dr. Gersh thought the forum was a good civic learning opportunity for young people. She pitched the idea to Keith Johnson, a math teacher at Ypsilanti Community Middle School, who had worked with her previously on another research project, and he thought that JOE WOODS Groundcover vendor No. 103 it was a great idea. Bringing the idea to the principal of the school, Charles Davis, and him liking the idea also got the students on board. From October through December 2023 they had pizza and met once a week in Mr. Johnson's classroom for an hour and a half. After December, they met twice a week and the students took a stronger interest because they started learning stuff about the program. After four months of meeting it was showtime. About 200 people attended, 150 free community meals were served, Ypsilanti middle schoolers who interviewed the Washtenaw County Sheriff candidates. Photo courtesy of Ken Magee. and 14 community partnerships were represented in the vendor corridor. The Ypsilanti Community Middle School choir performed. During the event the students asked the new candidates running for sheriff great questions about the community and voiced their opinions. Despite these being middle school students, they asked the candidates Alyshia Dyer, Derrick Jackson and Ken Magee thoughtful questions such as: • How are you going to engage the community to gain their trust because of issues crime? • How are you going to deal with people with mental illness? • What are you going to do to make the community feel safe with law enforcement? Joe Woods and Anna Gersh (pictured right), one of the organizers of the event. It was a great experience to see the community come together with the youth and more importantly, how these young adults asked intelligent questions and displayed their talents. going on within law enforcement? • What are you going to do about Hone your power of persuasion! ASHLYN VICTORIA and LAWRENCE MOEBS Huron Valley Toastmasters Have you ever had an excellent idea, but when you tried to bring it to the table, it was completely overlooked? If so, know that you are not alone! As many of us know, it can be frustrating not to be heard, especially if your issue is extremely important. What would you do if you could reduce (or avoid) the possibility of this happening? What if you could supercharge your ability to inspire action? Well, here is your opportunity. Huron Valley Toastmasters, a diverse, inclusive group dedicated to improving leadership and public speaking skills, is putting on a free series of online workshops (we call it a “Speechcraft”) that will allow future changemakers to hone their persuasion skills. Although there are many techniques for improving these skills, this Speechcraft will focus on a technique called Monroe’s Motivated Sequence, a persuasive structure to guide listeners into action. This Speechcraft will be broken into four hour-long online sessions: Session 1: Honing Your Power of Persuasion: An Overview of Monroe’s Motivated Sequence in 5 Steps Session 2: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence: Steps 1-3 in depth Session 3: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence: Steps 4-5 in depth Session 4: Review, Discussion, Application, and Ethics The sessions will take place every Sunday (except March 31) via Zoom from March 24 to April 21. Each session will be on Zoom, and will run for an hour, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. While beneficial, attending every session is not required. Each time you attend, you will have the opportunity to interact with a friendly, experienced Toastmaster (and hopefully a lively group of aspiring changemakers!) to build your persuasion skills and further your cause. No matter who you are, we at Huron Valley Toastmasters welcome you to sign up for this free Speechcraft! To do so, please scan the QR code to find our Linktree (or type the following link into a search engine: linktr.ee/huronvalleytoastmasters). There, you will be able to sign up for each of the four sessions individually. We look forward to meeting you!
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