Louisiana Youth Seminar (LYS) was founded in 1971 on the belief that in order for businesses, communities and government to have effective leaders in the future, we must educate and cultivate the next generation of leaders -- from all communities -- and help them develop strong core leadership skills.

LYS stands for inclusion, collaboration, service, and growth. As such, we must listen to one another, help each other, love one another and, most importantly, take action. Lasting change can only happen if we are all willing to revisit our values, examine our biases, and to truly listen when others tell us how we can do better. There are hard questions to be asked and answered.

At LYS, one of our core values is “No Man is an Island.” At the first seminar in 1971, LYS chose the theme song “No Man is an Island” to close each day, a tradition we continue today. The delegates and staff join in one large circle and sing together, representing that while we work in small groups throughout the day, we are part of a greater whole, responsible to and for one another. We share the chorus -

No man is an island

No man stands alone

Each man’s joy is joy to me

Each man’s grief is my own

This means nothing without stating unequivocally that Black Lives Matter. We are committed to doing our part to end the deeply-rooted injustices and racism that have persisted for too long in our society.

Sentiment and solidarity are important components of anti-racism work that require intentional and consistent action. We want to share what we are committed to and planning for moving forward.

Together as the LYS Board of Directors, Executive Committee, and staff, we want to share what we are committed to and are planning for moving froward:

Listening to our Black team members and giving them a platform to be heard. We have created working groups to take a critical look at the depths of these issues within our organization. We will be implementing anti-racism and inclusion training and actions recommended by our Diversity and Inclusion team to ensure that our organization can be the best version of itself.
Bringing in high school students with diverse backgrounds and experiences to attain our common goal of developing all future leaders. We will actively engage and support these students as they advance through our program as delegates, staff members, and ultimately, board and committee members.
Developing the skills of our program staff and organizational leadership so they can be better-equipped to address racism at the individual, systemic and cultural levels. We will be engaging in anti-racism training as an organization and evaluating our program as a whole to explicitly engage our delegates in this work. We recognize that today’s leaders will define tomorrow’s future, and LYS is committed to training young leaders to build consensus through understanding and clear, unbiased vision.
Making changes. We pledge to never stop striving for the ideals of justice and equity. We will continue to share more about our efforts as they take shape. Our actions will be sustained.

As we embrace these difficult times, we are reminded of just how critical LYS is for our communities, state, and the world. Now more than ever, the development of thoughtful leaders is necessary to dismantle systemic racism and combat injustice, inequality and intolerance.

We know that our work is not done and that we do not have all the answers. We remain hopeful because we know the power of young leaders.

Sincerely,

The LYS Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Staff, Board of Directors and Executive Committee