Greetings to all of SYPP's fantastic members, alumni, and community supporters,

     As you can imagine, we here at SYPP were sad to say goodbye to Sylva Jones, as she moved on after 4 years of passionate dedication to this organization.  We are deeply grateful for her contributions to our work and our mission, and for her fierce committment to young people and to social justice.  We will miss you, Sylva, and we thank you so much for the years you have given to SYPP!

    However, we hope you share our excitement as we have welcomed SYPP's newest Co-Director, Sahar Romani! 

    We asked Sahar to share just a little bit about herself, and here it is:

     "Sahar Romani is riveted by teenagers, words/metaphors, Hindi film songs, coffee, and critical pedagogy.  She is honored and excited to join SYPP as Co-Director and an adult ally with the commitment to learn from young people and support their ideas and actions towards changing the world around them.  

     "For over five years, Sahar worked with urban youth in Kolkata, India on creative and critical literacy as a popular educator and teaching-artist. In 2003, she founded a creative writing program for urban youth called Kalam: Margins Write, where she created and facilitated workshops on critically-conscious story-telling and creative writing with young people living in marginalized neighborhoods. Along with her work in India, Sahar has been doing community organizing in Seattle’s local Muslim and South Asian communities around issues of gender justice, homophobia and Islamophobia.

    "Sahar is a Seattle-native and she’s excited to work with a creative, social justice organization like SYPP where youth voices shape youth work."

    Sahar just started at SYPP this Monday, and she's already proving to be a great fit.  If you can, feel free to stop by or give us a call to welcome her.

    We look forward to working with you as SYPP continues with its youth empowerment work!

    Thanks!

Jeremy Louzao