The Neutral Zone presents the 9th Annual Youth Driven Spaces (YDS) Conference. The YDS Conference is planned by teens and aims to connect youth-driven organizations from across Southeast Michigan for community, connection and learning.
Calling all Youth Leadership Councils, Youth Commissions, Youth Advisory Boards, and the like!
This year's conference will take place on Saturday, April 25th from 10:00 to 4:00, at Eastern Michigan University's McKenny Hall.
Each participant will attend workshops where they’ll explore topics for youth by youth. We will also give out a total of $5,000 to 5-6 selected groups who apply to do project pitches. Organizations can register up to 7 teens and 2 adults. Lunch is included with registration.
Questions? Contact jay@neutral-zone.org
Questions? Contact jay@neutral-zone.org
Past Conferences
2025
The 2025 Conference was hosted in the style of y2k and included teen-led workshops on starting a nonprofit, diet culture, burnout prevention and more.
2024: Concept of self
The 2024 YDS Conference included teen-led workshops on self love, advocacy through democracy, caring for yourself on social media, and improvising to express yourself.
2023: Transitioning to adulthood
The 2023 YDS Conference included teen-led workshops on Finances 101, Reproductive Justice and Contraception, Mental Health, Habitual/Responsible Voting, and Conscious Activism.
2022: Mental Health
Rescuing the conference from the confines of zoom, teens decided to focus this year's conference on the importance of mental health.
2019
With eight youth-driven workshops this year, we covered anything you could hope to foster in a youth driven space.
The First Ever YDS Conference
The one that began it all.
The first conference was different in many ways; location, sponsors, and even being held on a Sunday but the concept was a home run and set the foundations for the YDS Conference we know and love today.
Thanks to the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation for their generous support for this event!