At our NZ Engage event last November, teens pitched their project ideas of what they dreamed of doing this school year. And our community listened to their ideas and funded them. Here are some highlights from those projects this year.

Consent Matterz: Youth launched a zine (mini-magazine) about building consensual relationships in their lives and hosted a release party to share with others. They plan to use it in the new school year for peer-to-peer workshops.

Regardless of your age or where you are it is important and you will always need to know about consent and respecting people and their boundaries. - Yona, Sophomore

**An image from the Consent Matterz Zine**

Food Pantry: Youth redesigned the NZ food pantry, including painting a mural, purchasing and organizing new shelving and purchasing a fridge for fresh food. With this, the food pantry was able to expand their offerings to cool and frozen food as well as dry goods and toiletries.

Riot Youth Pride Prom: Youth hosted a “Garden Party” themed Pride Prom. Over 40 high school students in attendance decorated flowers, danced, ate, and teens who were able to stay had a sleepover at the Neutral Zone.

Riot Youth teens also worked with the Ann Arbor city council to issue a proclamation supporting LGBTQ+ youth in honor of Pride Month.

Little Jams: Youth who participate in music instruction and weekly jam sessions purchased a new bass amplifier and multiple instruments for their programming. Esh, the teen who led this effort, shared how much he valued being able to plan, budget, and use the gear to grow the program extensively.

Musical Theater Revue: NZ youth Alejandra was able to write, produce, and direct a play, organize their peers, and bring a performance together. Afterwards Alejandra shared,
I felt very empowered by the experience and gained insight into what it meant to be a leader. Helping others and myself achieve our dream helped me realize that it’s possible, and I can do it again.

NZ Podcast: The N Zone podcast is now LIVE! Youth leaders Nick and Aiden worked to conceptualize, write, record, and release three episodes: N Zone’s Valentine’s Day Episode, April Fooling Around and Poetry, Pride & Britt the Poet. You can check out the completed recordings on spotify, links are at neutral-zone.org

Poetry Anthology: Unbound, the newly restarted poetry program, has had fantastic success this year. Young poets gathered to write, share and perform their work, including a showcase of poetry and music hosted at NorthStar Lounge. NZ youth worked with youth from 826 Michigan to create a poetry zine. Digital and printed copies of our zine will be available soon.

(Above) Teen Poets and Musicians Perform at Northstar Lounge

Visual Arts Council: NZ supported youth to host workshops with youth at Perry Elementary School-, attend a gallery hop in Detroit, and put on a show, Aquarium at the Ann Arbor Center gallery space.

Youth Now Climate Action: Youth participated in workshops to learn about sustainable farming practices, including hydroponic and aquaponic farming and urban gardening at Growing Hope. They developed a hydroponic workshop for their peers and featured it as part of Ann Arbor's a2Zero Week.

Thanks to our community, teen leaders gained a new level of agency as they conceived, visualized and carried out their own projects this year. Many of these youth are now stepping into advanced leadership roles in the coming year, including positions on our Board of Directors, as facilitators of our Lead Team, and as leaders of regional youth-led projects. And most importantly, they have experienced the power of their leadership in our community.

NZ Engage Project Update

Stream The N Zone Podcast