Giordan Dixon among 130 students who participated in International Youth Voice Congress in Puerto Rico
Giordan Dixon, a YMCA Lighthouse Project alumnus and current program associate, recently returned from San Juan, Puerto Rico and the International Youth Voice Congress where he represented the City of Pittsburgh. He spent the week learning, serving and making friends with young people from around the world.
The Congress united 130 students, primarily between the ages of 16 and 20, from more than 20 different countries to learn with and from accomplished writers, activists and elected officials. Student delegates were chosen based on their commitment to leadership and social justice, as well as their passion and eloquence as writers.
Giordan has been with the YMCA Lighthouse Project at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA since 2015, first as a student and now as a program associate, helping mentor the current group of talented young people in visual and performing arts. He also works with the YMCA Before and After School Enrichment (BASE) program supporting K-4 children.
Giordan received a $10,000 grant from The Heinz Endowments to produce and release his first album, #Storyteller in August 2018, leveraging it into a performance at the Byham Theater as a part of the TedX Pittsburgh event. Later that year, he was invited to serve on the Heinz Endowments Transformative Arts Committee where he worked with other arts educators and youth to develop equitable grant-making strategies in order to impact young people living in Pittsburgh’s distressed communities.
He is a student at Community College of Allegheny County pursuing a Music Technology Certificate in conjunction with the YMCA Lighthouse Project, and is currently working on a second album.
The International Youth Voice Congress is designed to provide a path to leadership for all delegates, who have already exhibited potential in local writing and tutoring programs. It was founded as a means to amplify their ideas and energy and to unite young people for a weekend of collaboration.