Our 35 Year Anniversary – “Empowering the World with Safety Skills” Conference and special trainings this spring were an incredible time of growing connections between people who had been with Kidpower International since 1989 and people who are relatively new to our organization.
Having so many of us being together in person as a community for the first time since our in-person training in January 2020 was a true joy. Most people have said that all they learned and experienced during these events was “transformational” for them.
During this time, we were able to share an amazing amount of expertise and experiences with and from a remarkable group of 80 deeply committed and talented instructors, volunteers, board members, and staff from our Kidpower International community.
We truly lived up to the “International” in our name with people joining us from Argentina, Canada, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Iran, New Zealand, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Vietnam, New Zealand, and, in the US, from California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia.
What Happened At the Conference and Special Trainings
The first event was the Kidpower Skills Training in Santa Cruz, which gave participants three very full days of practice teaching over 120 children and youth and their adults.
Kidpower’s Español instructors from Argentina, Ecuador, and Guatemala practiced leading workshops in Spanish for the children from farmworker families at a local public school and for mothers and children at a shelter.
The second event was Kidpower International’s 35-Year Anniversary Conference, with the theme of Empowering the World with Safety Skills.
During the conference, all Kidpower staff members and expert presenters donated their time. Workshops with hands-on practices included:
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- Turning Problems Into Practices
- Living Our Values and Turning Hopes Into Goals
- Skills for Conflict Resolution
- Pridepower Safety Skills and Resources by and for the LGBTQIA+ Community
- Sustainability through Fundraising and Community Support
- Workplace Safety and Violence Prevention Through Positive Interventions and De-Escalation
- The Three Pillars of Transformational Self-Care
- Practices for Taking Charge of Your Mental and Physical Health
The 3rd event was in Albany, California, for four days of training including:
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- Workshops for 65 adults and teens with disabilities from the Orientation Center for the Blind and from a special education transitional program.
- Child Protection Advocacy workshops for parents, educators, and other caring adults on how to protect young people in their care from bullying, abuse, and abduction and prepare them to take charge of their own safety.
- Emotional and Personal Safety Skills for adults, including survivors of abuse and violence
- Workplace Safety and Positive Communication Skills
- Verbal and Physical Self-Defense Skills.
The long-term impact of our time together
By having hands-on opportunities to learn from our most experienced trainers, our very diverse participants greatly increased their capacity to prevent trauma and protect lives through teaching personal and psychological safety skills in ways that are effective, empowering, inclusive, and FUN!
Here are three of many stories showing how participants are now using the knowledge and skills they gained.
According to Shandana Shiekh, who has recently started Kidpower Pakistan, “Ever since I came back, I feel more connected, accomplished, and confident about my ability to teach. I’ve now trained over 200 children in orphanages along with their staff and another 100 children who are blind, as well as a group of young women in college who were feeling scared because there had been an assault on their campus. I am excited to do much, much more.”
Another of one of the participants, who has to be anonymous for safety reasons, said, “Getting in-person practice gave me the confidence and knowledge I need to provide successful trainings in ways that are very upbeat despite our difficult situation. I am leading online workshops teaching sexual assault prevention skills to people in organizations throughout our country serving over 10,000 survivors of domestic violence. After a series of tragic kidnappings, I am also leading Kidpower workshops teaching hundreds of parents and their children how to prevent and escape from an attack.”
Kidpower’s Nepal Center Director, Shusma Pokhrel, went home determined to bring Kidpower skills to those most in need on a much larger scale than ever before. She said, “Children in rural areas face big risks of being assaulted on their way to and from schools. We traveled for 14 hours each way over very muddy dirt roads to teach safety and self-defense skills to over 1,000 students and their teachers in 8 remote parts of Nepal. Our goal now is to provide 50 Trainings of Practitioners so that over 15,000 children, teens, and vulnerable adults can learn how to stay safe.” (This blog post includes an inspiring video of Shusma’s teaching: Monsoon Didn’t Stop Her From Teaching Safety Skills to Kids)
Kidpower International is continuing to provide ongoing online trainings, coaching, and technical support for all of our center directors and instructors in the US and internationally in how to organize and teach services, adapt our curriculum for cultural differences, raise money, and create long-term partnerships with schools, organizations, and businesses in their countries.
THANK YOU!
Each person’s presence was a gift!
THANK YOU to our central office staff and training teams who worked so hard to make the very complicated logistics and different programs go so well.
Deep GRATITUDE to our Board members and supporters for helping us to find places for people to stay, sharing their expertise, making photos, making generous special donations to help cover our costs, giving rides, opening their own homes, and so much more.
And huge APPRECIATION to the donors and funders whose support made it possible to cover travel costs, food, and lodging so that all those who needed financial support were able to join these events. Each of these individuals had demonstrated a long-term commitment to bringing Kidpower services to their communities, especially for those who are facing difficult challenges such as poverty, disabilities, and prejudice.
Published: June 27, 2024 | Last Updated: June 27, 2024