Year
2018 - Present
OrganizationCreative Resilient Youth
2018 - Present
Creative Resilient Youth
Creative Resilient Youth (CRY) was initiated in 2018 to bridge gaps in youth art, mental health, and leadership education. I co-founded CRY with Bennett Kuhn, Felicia Blow, and Michelle Lee Delgado Wallace as an initiative stewarded by Creative Resilience Collective. From 2018 to 2022, we provided Philadelphia-area youth opportunities to shape the future of youth-led care through co-design, collective study, healing practice, and socially engaged art.
Today, CRY provides drop-in programming directed by Avani Alvarez, a founding youth leader from the inaugural 2018 cohort.
Today, CRY provides drop-in programming directed by Avani Alvarez, a founding youth leader from the inaugural 2018 cohort.
RoleCurrent: Advisor
Former: Director of Strategy and Partnerships
Co-Founder
Former: Director of Strategy and Partnerships
Co-Founder
AudiencePhiladelphia youth (14 to 25 years of age)
Mission
CRY is an intergenerational collective promoting equitable mental health care through collaborative study, co-design, socially engaged art, and leadership training.
Vision
CRY envisions a future where every young person has the healing resources and skills needed to:
- Access their authentic selves to define and communicate care for themselves on their own terms.
- Influence how mental health is talked about and cared for in their peer group, families, communities, and other youth-serving spaces.
- Create tools to address injustices in youth mental health care systems.
My Role
CRY was a volunteer run organization for the first year of programming. As we grew and became an organization, our team embraced collaborative and consensus-based decision-making processes, meaning that we operated in a relatively horizontal fashion. For formal matters I served as the executive director.
My areas of responsibility included (but were not limited to): program design, co-design faciltiation, strategic planning, development, grant writing, fiscal partnership management (inclusive of budgeting, bookeeping, and payroll), board relations, hiring and onboarding new staff, supporting recruitment, special partnerships, professional development for staff, public profile building, and coaching of young leaders.
CRY was a volunteer run organization for the first year of programming. As we grew and became an organization, our team embraced collaborative and consensus-based decision-making processes, meaning that we operated in a relatively horizontal fashion. For formal matters I served as the executive director.
My areas of responsibility included (but were not limited to): program design, co-design faciltiation, strategic planning, development, grant writing, fiscal partnership management (inclusive of budgeting, bookeeping, and payroll), board relations, hiring and onboarding new staff, supporting recruitment, special partnerships, professional development for staff, public profile building, and coaching of young leaders.
In June of 2022, I assumed a more focused role as the Director of Strategy and Partnerships. For administrative purposes, I continued to serve as the executive director, but began to step back from weekly facilitation of the programming to build CRY’s operational and strategic capacity to scale and transfer leadership to the next generation.
A logic model I facilitated and co-designed for CRY’s 2022 strategic plan.
Credits
Current StaffCo-Founders
Michelle Lee, Co-Director and Co-Facilitator
Felicia Blow, Co-Director and Co-Facilitator
Bennett Kuhn, Co-Director and Co-Facilitator
Past/Present Parters Deep Space Mind 2015, Program Partner
Special ThanksPublic Trust (formerly Slought Foundation)
Creative Resilience Collective
Avani Alvarez, Executive Director (founding youth member)
Sari Widman, Research and Evaluation Specialist
Sari Widman, Research and Evaluation Specialist
Felicia Blow, Co-Director and Co-Facilitator
Bennett Kuhn, Co-Director and Co-Facilitator
Past/Present Parters Deep Space Mind 2015, Program Partner
Young Artist Program, Program Partner
Youth Arts Workshop, Program Partner
Philly CAM, Exhibition Partner
Little Berlin, Exhibition Partner
Youth Arts Workshop, Program Partner
Philly CAM, Exhibition Partner
Little Berlin, Exhibition Partner
Special ThanksPublic Trust (formerly Slought Foundation)
Creative Resilience Collective
GrantsStoneleigh Foundation
Barra Foundation
Philadelphia Cultural Fund
Douty Foundation
Penn Cares Fund
Added Velocity (via The William Penn Foundation)
Velocity Fund (via The Andy Warhol Foundation)
Barra Foundation
Philadelphia Cultural Fund
Douty Foundation
Penn Cares Fund
Added Velocity (via The William Penn Foundation)
Velocity Fund (via The Andy Warhol Foundation)