Wonderfolk is thrilled to be partnering with Alaska Airlines, the official airline of the Portland Trail Blazers!
Previously Global Works Community Fund. Same team. Same program. Same soul
WE REMOVE BARRIERS
to access and help diverse youth find their voice in activism and community engagement. Wonderfolk develops youth who want to define their own life. We are a youth-leadership organization that nurtures diverse young leaders through art, community engagement, travel, and nature-based projects to make lasting community impact.
2023 VISUAL YEARBOOK
Please enjoy our student made 2023 visual yearbook in collaboration with MetroEast Media.
Since 2015, we have grown each year. We started our program with two fellows and one mentor. We now annually mentor a cohort of seventeen youth fellows who we support through fully funded scholarships.
AREAS OF IMPACT
Our programs offer multidimensional leadership opportunities through unique, hands-on experiences with arts, environmental and global advocacy projects. Our Student Fellows learn and collaborate with dynamic leaders at home and abroad, engaging in three programs from March to October:
A relationship with the natural world and access to clean air, clean water and green spaces is essential for all communities. These community projects range from habitat restoration, to park clean ups and community gardening.
Art is a way of expressing the times, needs of community, and voices of individuals. Through public art projects with community members, our fellows share power and perspectives through what they create . Projects in this sector can include developing murals, podcast creation, digital magazine publication, community art exhibits and documentary film.
We are all connected. A global perspective provides a new sense of possibility and shed light on new strengths. Our youth move out of their comfort zone to learn from, and build with, local leaders abroad. Projects in this sector include education, infrastructure development, and conservation work.
In tandem with Global Works Travel, our youth participate in community projects in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Panama. Once they return home, they take inspiration from the areas these projects address and how they are accomplished and initiate projects in their local community.
OUR WORK
Students from BIPOC* communities often have less access to leadership development opportunities due to continuing inequity in resource distribution across systems - including school districts and neighborhoods. Wonderfolk seeks to dismantle this pattern through mentoring, global travel experiences, leadership opportunities, career development opportunities, and college-prep. Our students are brilliant, motivated changemakers and we recognize that where we come from is a part of our strength. Investing in our fellows’ future allows us to enhance the power of our communities.
At home and abroad, we work with passionate community partners who open their homes and hearts to our youth fellows. Working side by side on projects in service of the community, everyone benefits from cultural exchange, skill-sharing, and learning through stories.
These are our youth. This is our community.
*BIPOC is an acronym that stands for Black, Indigenous, People of Color. Expanding the term POC, the specificity of this term recognizes that Black and Indigenous people endured the brunt of the violence that founded this country in the form of stolen labor and land and that these communities are still unequally affected by the ongoing consequences and disenfranchisment that persists today.
