Free Library’s teen social justice workshop clears path for conversations

One day in April 2015, after one of hundreds of police shootings across the country that year, a group of teens sat around a table at a library on Rittenhouse Square airing their frustrations.

All under 15, they were frustrated by the increased visibility of violent, sometimes deadly, interactions between black people and police officers. Unable to storm the streets to join larger protests, but deeply disturbed by the ongoing incidents, the teens met at the Philadelphia City Institute branch of the Free Library and stewed.

Branch manager Erin Hoopes sat down and listened.

She quickly realized the youths needed a space to discuss, process, and contextualize these incidents and their experiences. So she started a “social justice-oriented book club," and later pitched the idea of a symposium to the library’s teen regulars.

There was a resounding yes, Hoopes said, and “we just started planning it together.”

In summer 2016, the Social Justice Symposium for teens was born.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, young people ages 12 to 20 will meet for the fourth year of the symposium. It’s a free, daylong “building takeover” of the City Institute, where teens will discuss topics including the uses of social media for social justice, the school-to-prison pipeline, and experiences of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum.

Since its genesis, the symposium has been a safe space for nearly 125 attendees, old enough to engage in critical thought and discussion, but too young — by their parents’ standards — to join protests.

The program was initially funded by a $4,725 grant from the Free Library’s strategic initiatives department. Since 2017, the program has been funded through grants from the Philadelphia City Institute Board of Managers. (Although the City Institute functions as a branch of the Free Library, it is independently owned.)

The bulk of funds are spent on speakers’ fees, workshop presenters, and travel expenses. The rest is split among food, SEPTA tokens, door prizes, and books, usually written by the keynote speaker.

Teenagers “tend to be a segment of our population that don’t get as many opportunities and don’t have as loud of a voice as they should,” Hoopes said. The symposium is a chance to listen, and strives to be a forum “where their curiosity is celebrated.”

Each year, about five teens work alongside Hoopes to pick the symposium’s topics, presenters, and keynote speaker.

Teens should have "opportunities to express themselves, to explore, to question,” Hoopes said. “And at that age, they’re particularly talented at asking really, really tough questions.”

Simone Lockwood, 17, never regrets spending $2.50 on the bus trip to the City Institute. She calls it her “neighborhood library” despite being from South Philadelphia. It’s where she volunteers and attends writing programs. She has attended the symposium nearly every year to explore ideas and have her voice heard.

Teenagers’ opinions and thoughts sometimes get brushed aside by older groups, Lockwood said, but at the Social Justice Symposium, “when you have that ability to talk to a group of kids with an adult who is ready and willing to listen to you, that’s a different level.”

“You feel like you can finally get something across that you’ve been holding in for God knows how long,” Lockwood said.

Hoopes said that for some teens, “its been really affirming to hear that adults care about these things, too.”

Nydirah Torrence, 17, met Angie Thomas, best-selling author of The Hate U Give, at her first symposium in 2017. She’s returned every year because the workshops are “very encouraging” and she always leaves feeling "as though I learned more about what’s going on in the world.”

She said it’s an opportunity to make new connections, have deep discussions, and “get your inner thoughts out,” rather than “just keeping them inside.”

“The symposium is an event that can change your whole perspective,” Torrence said.

The Social Justice Symposium for Teens will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Philadelphia City Institute Library, 1905 Locust St. To register, visit https://bit.ly/2vxaX2d.