My name is Austin Drake and I am the current Co-Secretary of the Positive Alternative Recreation Team-Building Impact (PARTI) organization. I have been a board member for PARTI since March 2020. However, I have been a part of this organization and participated ever since 2012 when I was still just a sophomore in high school at Mt. Pleasant in San Jose, California.
Way back then, I knew PARTI was special. I met Winston Ashby (Executive Director) when he visited my school and then again at my church (shout out to Emmanuel Baptist Church). Winston and PARTI provided a safe and fun way for me to organize events for my peers. Pretty soon, I started helping with the ExPosure and Stop the Violence events and got my friends and others to get involved. I overall enjoyed my experience as a kid and learned so much about what PARTI can do for youth: create a communal space for youth collaboration, learning, events, and service for your larger community. This program incorporated youth voices and lets the youth lead many aspects of it, giving people like me high exposure to skills such as leadership, management, and communication at a young age.
And yet my involvement didn’t stop there. In college at the University of California, Berkeley, I continued my contributions to PARTI by helping in a more administrative and management capacity, such as being a Backstage Director for the 2016 MLK Stop the Violence Rally in San Jose. I shared events and invited my network to join where they could. Additionally, I have PARTI and Winston to thank for the experience as I was able to host a sold out concert during my senior year. This proves the skills I learned here could extend beyond the program and into my own personal and professional life.
Now, I am working for Facebook while serving on the PARTI board where I contribute my ideas to new events, help create processes for a more efficient board, brainstorm ways to involve more youth, design plans to increase funding, and much more. Like myself and many others, PARTI has inspired me to inspire others, especially the younger generation. While it may seem like a heavy lift at times, the Board is assisting PARTI youth to make a change in the Bay Area day by day. If you are interested in joining our board to help youth MAKE A CHANGE, please contact us here using the form: All Around The World - The Same Song
Austin Drake, Co-Secretary of PARTI Program
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