Mentorship & Rites of Passage for All
The mission of One Village is to create cultures of belonging through transformational experiences and leadership training for youth and their people.
How It All Began
Every great journey starts with a spark, and for One Village, that spark came from a non-binary youth who carried a vision of inclusivity and empowerment. As an organization deeply dedicated to our youth, we couldn’t ignore this call to action. Under the Journeymen umbrella, we launched the One Village Initiative in 2020, and since then the impact has been profound. We’ve touched the lives of over 500 young people of all genders with programs, and in parallel, we’ve also trained and supported over 100+ adult educators, coaches, and mentors serving young people in our community. These educators and mentors play a crucial role in our mission, helping us reach even more young individuals and providing them with the guidance and support they need to thrive.
Take a look at the remarkable journey we’ve embarked on, as we delve into the diverse experiences, programs, and camps we’ve hosted in our very first year:
Check out the
One Village
photo gallery!
CIRCLES: One Village’s CIRCLES offers positive mentoring for all genders, featuring weekly in-school group meetups, engaging experiential learning, and deep conversations to enhance mental health. One Village has partnered with the Tacoma Public School District and Vashon Island School District to offer these life-changing groups for 100+ youth every single week. Our circles provide crucial social and emotional support designed to empower students to thrive in life.
Kindle: Dozens of families from around the Puget Sound have joined us for Kindle, a cornerstone of our One Village Initiative, is a transformative camping experience designed to deepen the bond between parent and child. Kindle Campout fosters meaningful connections through shared adventures, storytelling, and community support. In a world often filled with distractions, Kindle provides a unique opportunity to prioritize and strengthen the vital relationship between parents or caregivers and their children, enriching the lives of youth by enhancing the quality of these crucial connections.
Chautauqua Campout: Chautauqua Elementary School was thrilled to announce that its 100+ graduating 5th-grade students recently enjoyed a remarkable Outdoor School adventure at Camp Sealth on Vashon Island. The trip, organized in collaboration with our 5th Grade teachers and the incredible team at One Village, provided an enriching and unforgettable experience for the students, fostering their love for nature, teamwork, and personal growth.
Initiators: We trained 50 high schoolers in invaluable leadership skills, and they’ve had the chance to put their skills to work, supporting the Chautauqua Camp alongside us.
Impact Days: Our Impact Days foster positive, inclusive school culture by engaging students in meaningful conversations and dynamic activities that explore positive personal identity, healthy relationships, and living a purposeful life.
Staff Retreats: In August 2023, we conducted an impactful retreat for all the staff at Vashon High School and Student Link, leaving a lasting impression on all participants. One seasoned educator with over 20 years of experience described it as among the most powerful and meaningful staff retreats they’ve ever attended. Our comprehensive training empowered the entire staff, equipping them to foster cultures of belonging and excellence within their schools.
And this journey has only just begun!
We’re thrilled to keep expanding our One Village Initiative, continuing to enrich the lives of our youth and their communities throughout the greater Seattle and Tacoma region. If you have any questions or want to connect, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@journeymen.us – we’re always here to listen and engage with you.
Got Questions?
Journeymen’s One Village Initiative (OVI) is a collaborative project with the mission to support the development of mentorship and rites of passage experiences for all youth in our communities.
No. And this has been reinforced consistently in our conversations with stakeholders. Since our beginning five years ago, we have heard overwhelmingly how important it is to have dedicated spaces for youth and adults to engage in identity-based explorations of self, gift and purpose. And this won’t be changing anytime soon. At this time we’re still planning to offer at least as many experiences for boys as we have in previous years.Â
The One Village Initiative is an ongoing conversation that will take shape as we engage with our community. It is important for us to move delicately and deliberately to ensure we are acting in integrity with our mission, values and the needs of our “village”.Â
At this time we are committed to offering Kindle, our 2 day, one night campout for youth of all genders and one of their parents/guardians. After careful consideration, we decided that this experience was well suited to become our first offering in the One Village Initiative in 2022, as it is focused on the parent-child bond, targeted for younger participants, and was already held by a gender-diverse staff.
We are are currently considering piloting a version of The Quest for teens / young adults of all genders. The final decision to offer this experience will be determined at a later date, after further conversation with potential staff, our elders council, our network of professional guides, youth advisors, and our board of directors.
Many of our Journeymen training courses are offered to folks of all genders, and we will continue our tradition of offering many opportunities for youth and adults to develop their skills in mentorship and rites of passage leadership that furthers the Journeymen mission as well as the goal of the One Village Initiative.
Thankfully we have a large pool of qualified mentors, guides and elders of all genders right here in our community who have expressed a desire to be involved in creating and staffing experiences for youth of all genders. While most of our current Journeymen employees are men, we will continue to train, recruit and collaborate with women, non-binary and transgender folks who feel called to join us in this endeavor. If you’re interested in mentoring, feel free to fill out an application here, or check out our training experiences here.
The shift toward a more inclusive model is one that has come as the result of significant deliberation among our youth, staff, board, council of elders, and community partners. Since our beginning in 2016 we have consistently heard a call from our stakeholders to build upon the success of our model and expand to work with folks of all genders. And it has required us to dig deep into our values, consider our resources and capacity, as well as our vision for the work we have committed our hearts to:
MEN OF INTEGRITY
RESPECTING ALL
THRIVING TOGETHER
We’ve always known that the benefits of creating male-specific groups are only beneficial if we also consider the ways we must integrate our growth into the “Real world”, where we regularly interact with folks of all genders in virtually all aspects of our lives. While it might not seem obvious at first, we believe that this initiative will help us realize our vision sooner and more fully, and also integrate vital learning from folks across the gender spectrum to enrich the lives of the whole village around us.
