Children’s Defense Fund’s new initiative, Welcome Home: Young Adults Shaping Holistic Houses of Worship, aims to promote youth involvement in congregations and provide congregations with practical resources, tools, trainings, and support to help them transform and better embody the holistic community wanted by young adults.
Since its conception, CDF has placed faith and worship from all religions at the forefront of encouraging child well-being with programs such as Children’s Sabbath® Celebration and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute. Welcome Home builds on these programs by giving youth a seat at the table, tools, and the power to ensure they thrive.
Starting in April of 2023, Welcome Home adds to our legacy of uplifting Black and Brown children and youth within the church. To continue this heritage, CDF is looking for congregations committed to uplifting youth and young adults interested in walking with congregations through this process.
CDF will guide this transformation by offering congregations insight into the needs and contexts of young adults. Congregations will receive a curriculum developed and led by young adults and a framework for developing, launching, and evaluating programming. These resources will help congregations engage young adults while creating spaces of worship that support their overall health and well-being. We will invite congregations to connect deeply and authentically to the issues within their communities and listen to and learn directly from young adults.
If you or a young person you know has a background in servant leadership, please click here to apply for the Youth Adult Trainer position. The deadline to apply is February 10, 2023.
Please fill out this form for congregations interested in applying by March 10, 2023.