A Bite Into the Big Apple Our Food Justice Cookbook and Reflections on our Food and Sustainability Focused Gap Year Semester by Clara Pitt and Leila Tilin We chose to spend the first half of our gap year semester with the Living City Project (LCP) investigating the NYC food system, its inner workings, and the people and organizations that are fighting for justice and change within this system. We felt guided by one question specifically: How can we build a sustainable and equitable food system that respects our diversity, nourishes our citizens, and protects our planet? We chose to study…
DEIA
Self-Assessment Tool for Diversity, Inclusion, & Access 2019 by Elizabeth Bezark What is the DEIA Self-Assessment Tool? Over the course of two years, the Gap Year Association’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA) Committee developed a comprehensive Self-Assessment Tool to encourage Gap Year Provider members of GYA to reflect and improve on their DEIA practices in seven key areas. Participating in the self-assessment will deepen Gap Year Providers’ already-existing commitment to leadership within and evolution of the Gap Year Movement through increasing DEIA practices. Read on to see what it’s all about. How does it work? The guided assessment provides…
Voices Project: Acceptance, Flexibility, and the Lessons of a Gap Year with Cecilia Polanco I could write a book on my gap year, what it meant to me, and what I have learned and applied since then; in fact I plan to because I learned on my gap year that writing is a way I can preserve for myself and share with others at the same time. My gap year taught me a few major lessons: Accepting Things Out of my Control In planning my gap year, I struggled to find opportunities in Italy, where communication with folks via email…
Everyone Can Travel: Taking a Gap Year for Persons With Disabilities by Hannah Miller and Juanita Lillie We reached out to Juanita Lillie from Abroad With Disabilities, a Michigan non-profit that empowers persons with disabilities to go abroad, to co-author this post with us. Enjoy her take on travel with a disability! JUANITA LILLIE ON THE BENEFITS OF A GAP YEAR: “I am a woman of color with a disability. Many of my readers likely have disabilities or impairments as well as identities related to gender, sexual orientation, race, or the label of first generation student. I went abroad twice,…