Held in Petaluma, CA, YES!’s third annual Leveraging Privilege for Social Change Jam brought together 28 diverse young leaders with access to exceptional privilege for a week of authentic dialogue about power, money, our lives and the challenges and opportunities of our times.  Participants included young changemakers with privilege in a variety of forms, including monetary wealth (collective financial resources that reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars), public attention (participants carry significant music and film industry presence), and philanthropy (giving of time, talent, and/or money).  In a world with increasing ranks of billionaires, and a billion people living on less than a dollar-a-day, many privileges can also feel like burdens to a human being of conscience.  The Jam was a place to explore the many sides of privilege, to look at the values and visions we carry, and to help participants bring their lives and their social impact into greater alignment with their highest life’s commitments.

We discovered that our deepest real privileges are often things our society doesn’t recognize as worldly power, such as the privilege of being connected to a culture, to a wisdom tradition, to a loving family, and/or a supportive community, as well as  the privileges of opportunity, freedom and mobility.  The privilege of having someone believe in us, of having love in our lives, of having friends who will be honest with us and with whom we can share our truth.  The privilege of having a sense of meaning and purpose to our lives – and the capacity to make the best of whatever life brings us.  All of these can inform and guide us, and through them, we can begin to learn how to hold worldly power, and capacity for broad social impact, with some degree of wisdom and humility.


On the last two days, 35 more people ages 14-81 joined the Jam participants for a 60+ person Intergenerational Dialogue on Leveraging Privilege for Social Change.  It was a profound and provocative exchange, enabling participants to share in and build on some of the insights and conversations that came out of the Jam.  Many important conversations took place, and valuable partnerships were built.  Challenges arose which continue to illustrate the complexity of creating truly safe spaces for groups coming from diverse backgrounds and perspectives.  We learned some vital things that can help us move forward in a more conscious and intentional way in the future.