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Each LEAD group meets one evening a week. There will be three separate groups in the fall - one will be a bilingual Spanish/English group. Two groups will meet in Eugene, one in Springfield. The groups themselves run from 6-8 p.m. but teens can show up as early as 5 p. m. to socialize, eat, do homework and play games. Evening groups are the time that many teens describe LEAD as being like a second family.
A sample evening group agenda:
Blessing
Dinner
News and Goods
Dinner clean-up
Announcements
Game
LEAD curriculum
Closing
We start group with "blessing" – the blessing can be religious or non-religious and is most often what you are thankful for. Next is our 'family' dinner. We have teens who depend on the food and say that it's the one sit-down dinner they have all week. While we're eating we do 'News and Goods.' News and Goods is a time to share what is new and good in your life. It can also be 'old and bad' or any other check-in news. After dinner we have our curriculum. The core pieces of the LEAD curriculum are public speaking, co-counseling (peer counseling), education about oppression, drama games, team building, faciliation and guest presenters . The decisions about what to cover in the LEAD curriculum are made collectively by adults and teens. The evening group ends with our LEAD cheer and a round of hugs or handshakes.
Each evening group is lead by a teen LEADer and an adult co-leader. The teen and adult work as a pair, with the teen taking the visible/verbal leadership role and the adult supporting and coaching as needed. This is done to build the leadership skills of the teens in the safe environment of the evening group.
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