Check out our 2017-18 Annual Report ! (PDF)
Completed Programs 2017-18
Bioneers, October 20-22, 2017, San Rafael, CA – YES! is delighted to co-design and participate on an extraordinary panel with our beloved elder, Joanna Macy, HOME Jam alum and organizer, Rene Henery, and Coherence Lab founder, Prajna Marcus-Horn.
Nova Scotia Gaels Jam, Nova Scotia, Canada – November 3-5, 2017 – This mini-Jam brought together 10 intergenerational Gaelic language and culture creatives from around Cape Breton and Nova Scotia to create a welcoming, supportive and INSPIRING community. Participants Jammed in the Gaelic language to support their community to strengthen and deepen in new ways. Core partners: Amber Buchanan, Eamag McDonald, Alison Etter, and Shay MacMullin.
Egypt Youth Leadership Jam, November 11-17, 2017, Fayoum, Egypt – This 4th annual Jam engaged 25 diverse change-makers, ages 20-40, from varying religious, ethnic, economic, geographic, national and professional backgrounds from around Egypt. It was organized and facilitated by a team of alumni of past Egypt Jams.
India Arts for Social Change Jam, December 12-17, 2017, Bangalore, India – This 2nd annual Jam engaged 27 diverse artist-activists from around India. Dancers, theater artists, visual artists, poet, musicians, filmmakers, graphic designers, photographers, and more all participated. It was organized and facilitated by a team of alumni of past India Youth Jams and Arts for Social Change Jams.
Annual Holiday Party, December 17, 2017, Berkeley, CA – More than 40 Jammers, program partners and community members from across the Bay Area (and beyond) came together for YES!’s annual fun-, friend- and fund-raising event. They learned more about YES! — the past year, the year ahead, the overall vision and mission; heard from YES!’s Board Chair and co-founder, Ocean Robbins, and watched the latest film on YES!’s work. They made new connections and friendships. And, of course, they ate, drank, and were merry together!
Pakistan Youth Leadership Jam – January 26-31, 2018, Karachi, Pakistan – 4th annual event! 26 diverse change-makers, from all parts of Pakistan and working in fields ranging from women’s empowerment to youth development to human rights and citizenship, came together to grow in self, healed divisions, created support for each other, and visioned a positive future for their families, communities and land.
Habib University, January 31 and February 1, 2018, Karachi, Pakistan – YES! facilitated a few workshops for staff and students of this premier liberal arts university in Karachi. With students, we focused on cooperative play, mutual support and deeper connection. With staff, we engaged with deeper listening, healthy community and positive culture-building.
Nova Scotia Gaels Jam, February 1-3, 2018, Nova Scotia, Canada – This mini-Jam brought together 12 intergenerational Gaelic language and culture creatives from around Cape Breton and Nova Scotia to create a welcoming, supportive and INSPIRING community. Participants Jammed in the Gaelic language to support their community to strengthen and deepen in new ways. Core partners: Amber Buchanan, Heather Sparling, Alison Etter, and Shay MacMullin.
Thrive East Bay – March 4, 2018, Oakland, California, USA – YES! is honored to co-host this monthly community gathering, with the theme, “Radical Love: In Our Souls and On the Streets”.
Northeast Changemakers Jam – March 26-31, 2018, Springfield, New Hampshire, USA – 23 intergenerational change-makers from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island gathered to vision the region afresh, build community, create space for inner transformation, and heal across divides.
HOME (Healing Our Movement Ecosystem) – An Environmental Movement Jam – March 26-31, 2018, San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA – 27 change-makers from the intersecting environmental, ecology and environmental justice movements gathered to heal the movement ecosystem at all levels. Grassroots leaders, conservationists, indigenous peoples, alternative builders, eco-justice warriors, scientists, and policy advocates, and more, explored their stories, learnings, struggles and hopes, and find ways to amplify vision, balance, well-being, connectivity and collective effectiveness within this vital movement. Core partners: Ashoka Finley, Colin O’Brien & EarthJustice, Jodi Lasseter & North Carolina Climate Justice Summit, Kyle Lemle & Spiritual Ecology Fellowship, Rene Henery & Trout Unlimited, Anwen Baumeister & Cozy Bones Farm.
Ege Jam, April 27-May 1, 2018, Aegean Sea, Turkey — This first-ever Jam brought together 17 diverse changemakers who are based in the Aegean region of Turkey, to explore local connections, healing selves and communities, and visioning forward together. It was put together by several alumni from the Anatolia Youth Leadership Jam.
Queer/LGBTQ* Jam, May 12-18, 2018, San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA – This 3rd annual Jam brought together 18 change-makers from around and across the LGBTQ* spectrum for collective visioning, interpersonal healing and understanding, and self-transformation.
Black Diaspora Jam, June 7-11, 2018, Highlander Research and Education Center, New Market, Tennessee, USA – 18 Black and African-American Jam alumni gathered to explore personal, interpersonal and systemic transformation in these times. Co-organizers: Hanan Al-Bilali, Jocelyn Jackson, Jovan Julien, Austin Willacy, Ashoka Finley, Chinyere Oteh.
India Youth Jam, June 17-24, 2018, Bangalore, India – This 7th annual Jam united 30 social changemakers from around the subcontinent for self-awareness, community-building and systemic visioning. Core partners: Sukhmani Kohli, Shruti Tharayil, Roy Jacob, Suyash Saboo, Ayesha D’Souza, and Kaushiek Pranoo.
Arts for Social Change / ARTivist Jam, June 18-23, 2018, Santa Cruz mountains, California, USA – 27 musicians, visual artists, dramatists, dancers, graphic recorders, spoken word poets, and more, joined together in cross-pollinating and linking up the vital ARTivist movement! This 6th annual Jam focused on mutual support, interconnection, collaboration, visioning, and lifting up the essential contributions of artists in social transformation.
Evolving + Emerging Economies Jam, June 22-26, 2018, St. Louis, Missouri, USA – This year, in association with the New Economy Coalition’s Common Bound conference, 22 diverse visionaries and entrepreneurs committed to a just and regenerative world gathered to transform themselves, their relationships, and the economic system via impact investing, social entrepreneurship, community currency, worker-owned business, new metrics, collaborative consumption, gift cultures, and more. 5th annual EEE Jam! Co-sponsoring partners: RSF Social Finance and New Resource Bank.
Law and Social Change Jam, July 25-29, 2018, Ukiah, California, USA – This 4th annual Jam brought together 23 diverse lawyers and justice practitioners, who are vital to co-creating a better world, in environment, human rights, criminal justice, land rights, immigration, alternative economies, and more, and who want to heal and deepen their connections on personal, interpersonal and systemic levels. Core partners: Susan Brooks, Kim Clark, Chris Tittle, Parag Khandhar, Judi Cohen, Jeff Carolin.
Humane Education Coalition Podcast, July 30, 2018 – YES!’s Executive Director, Shilpa Jain, was featured on the HEC podcast, featuring the learnings and work of YES! and the Jams.
Field Academy Community Jam, August 1-5, 2018, Plainfield, Massachusetts, USA – This Jam brought together 23 Field Academy alumni, teachers, partners, supporters, and Education Jam alumni for co-learning, visioning and co-creating the next stage of this experiential, social and environmental justice and community-based education program for teens and adults.
Finding Common Ground, August 3, 2018 – YES!’s Executive Director, Shilpa Jain, had the opportunity to share her story and YES!’s story as a speaker in the Summer of Peace Summit, hosted by the Shift Network.
For the Love of Learning, August 6, 2018 – YES!’s Executive Director, Shilpa Jain, shared info and learnings from Jams in this episode on ‘creating learning environments’, featuring voices from the alternative education movement.
Wellness and Healing Justice Jam, August 22-26, 2018, Farm of Peace, Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania, USA – A first-ever Jam brought together 22 social workers, therapists, counselors, and many other wellness and healing artists, to dive into deeper self-awareness, community collaborations, healing across the fields of work, and moving the dial on what is possible in the field overall. Core partners: Minna Kim, Sky Yardeni, Sarah Beth Grove, Roan Coughtry, Chetna Mehta, Natasha Jeswani, Anna Hirsch, Beatriz Martinez.
Anatolia Arts for Social Change Jam, August 28-September 2, 2018, Turkey – This 3rd annual Arts for Social Change Jam in Turkey brought together 28 artist-activists from around the country — dancers, musicians, storytellers, filmmakers, photographers, visual artists, and more — to strengthen and deepen arts offerings towards building a thriving, just and regenerative world for all. Organized by a group of alumni from the Anatolia Youth Leadership Jam and Arts for Social Change Jam.
North America Leadership Jam, September 9-16, 2018, Santa Cruz mountains, California, USA – YES!’s longest-running program, which has helped to birth so many Jams around the country and has been happening for the last 15 years. 28 diverse multigenerational leaders from around North America gathere for co-creating a shared vision, finding common points of collaboration, healing historic divides, and exploring the self.
UNIFY’s World Peace Broadcast, September 21, 2018 – YES!’s Executive Director, Shilpa Jain, shared about YES!’s work, the Jams, and the “Welcome to the Jam” in this global effort on the UN International Day of Peace.
Toronto Jam, September 22-25, 2018, Mansfield, Ontario, Canada – This 4th annual Jam in the greater Toronto area brought together 27 diverse change-makers to connect, vision, build bridges, and learn together, in order to strengthen the dynamic movements happening in and around the city. Core partners: Brigid Tierney, Rehana Tejpar, Karen BK Chan, Jeff Carolin, Francesca Allodi-Ross, and Adeline Cohen.