WiserEarth Suggestions

The Vieques Youth Leadership Initiative (VYLI)'s mission is to train young and emerging leaders to build a new Vieques. Our projects educate, empower and challenge young people to make their dreams come true. Founded in 2004, VYLI is a demonstration project of the Stone Soup Leadership Institute SSLI], a 501c3 global non-profit educational organization founded in 1997. VYLI is the first major program to be developed in support of the young people in Vieques.

How VYLI Benefits Young People

• Multiplier effect: trains young people to be leaders who reach out and help other youth;
• Increases skills, education and job readiness while fostering life-long curiosity for learning;
• Trains youth in sales and customer relations while learning about running a small business;
• Increases pride, self-esteem and motivation for work ethic and realizing their dreams;
• Breaks cycle of poverty, encourages self-sufficiency and sustainable economic activities;
• Develops bi-lingual presentation skills;
• Learning-in-action, project-based cultural-entrepreneurial ventures;
• Grassroots problem-solving leadership;
• Youth are involved in all aspects of the process of obtaining a building for VYLI and developing the 5 year plan; learning what it takes to make dreams come true: hard work, patience, perseverance and teamwork.

About Vieques

Vieques is a beautiful island in the Caribbean, located 7 miles from the East Coast of Puerto Rico. On May 1, 2003 the young people of Vieques celebrated the end of the U.S. Navy bombing after 68 years.

VYLI was founded in 2004 with technical assistance from the Stone Soup Leadership Institute: www.soup4world.com We use the Institute's educational curriculum (Pan Y Vino Para El Camino) to prepare the next generation of leaders to address the economic, environmental and social challenges in the 21st century.

During the last three years, we conducted a community planning process and then developed a comprehensive youth empowerment program that engages young people to be part of the solution instead of the problem. Our annual Summer Institute is the centerpiece of a year-round program that features initiatives in cultural and entrepreneurship, technology, school-to-work, eco-tourism and sustainable development.

We're developing partnerships to transform VYLI's new building into a youth-led sustainable development showcase for the Caribbean Educational Learning Laboratory with an Internet Café and On-line Resource Center; the Island's first Community Radio Station; a Culinary Arts Institute; Leadership and Workforce Development Training Center as well as a Renewable Energy/Sustainable Development Showcase. (see the artistic drawing describing our 5-year plan: www.vyli.com/pdf/vieques_poster.pdf)

VYLI has been chosen as a new AmeriCorps/VISTA member organization. We are recruiting four bi-lingual people to work in four areas: resource development, education, sustainable development and radio-technology.