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The Earl T. Shinhoster Youth Leadership Institute is raising up new leaders who can help meet the challenges of the 21st century and beyond. The Institute is committed to the proposition that each young person has within him or her  the potential to be a great leader. It is preparing young people to seize leadership opportunities in their schools, neighborhoods, and religious institutions today, and in the workplace and global arena tomorrow.

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The Institute began in 2010 and is based in Savannah, Georgia. It is open to youth ages 12 to 16 years old. It focuses on equipping youth with the competencies needed to be critical thinkers and creative innovators.

 

Its programs are built around seven core skill areas:

• Communication – verbal and written

• Leadership

• Decision making/goal setting

• Financial Literacy/Entrepreneurship

• Team building

• Civic responsibility/volunteerism

• Financial literacy

• Cultural awareness

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The young leaders explore African American history, meet prominent city and state officials, and interview successful business men and women and community leaders. Participants also engage in interactive games and discussions. They create multimedia projects that are presented at the end of each program.

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For example, in 2011 the young leaders visited the Cluskey Embankment Stores along River Street during a walking tour of Savannah. Five young men in the group became interested in the history and use of the vaults.

For their communications project, they made a presentation detailing that the vaults may have been used as a holding area for slaves. Later, they took their findings to the City Manager who then asked Vaughnette Goode-Walker, a local historian, to work with the young leaders on a research project.

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On February 9, 2012, the young leaders presented to City Council their recommendations, which included removal of parking from the vaults and the implementation of an archaeological investigation to supplement the historical research already completed on the vaults' history. A dig was conducted. Subsequently, the city of Savannah prevented parking at the embankment stores and placed plaques at the entrances detailing the work done by the young leaders. To see more about their visit: http://www.savannahga.gov/index.aspx?nid=1098.

The Institute has been held mostly at the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum since it began. It also has been hosted at the Beach Institute. Both museums are rich resources of African American history for youth participating in Earl T. Shinhoster Youth Leadership Institute activities.