The CRC hosts public events, symposia, dialogues, and training opportunities that bring people together around urgent questions facing West Virginia and beyond. Join the conversations, relationships, and shared learning that shape our work.
West Virginia Youth Resilience Leadership Summit: Vibrant Transformations 2026
The WV Youth Resilience Leadership Summit is a special opportunity for high school students (14-17 years old) from across West Virginia to come together at West Virginia University for an inspiring experience for cultivating resilience, learning, creativity, and connection. Hosted by the WVU Center for Resilient Communities, this summit is designed for young people who want to find their calling, learn more about their communities, and are ready to explore what leadership can look like in their own lives.
The
WVU Center for Resilient Communities (CRC) at West Virginia University
is a research and education center based in the
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences where young people learn to lead
by working on real projects that strengthen communities. Our programs focus
on
developing capacities for
research, leadership,
teamwork, while
building confidence in students to discover their talents and
serve humanity.
Our summit is a chance to step onto a college campus, meet other motivated young people in a safe environment, connect with mentors and community leaders, and take part in hands-on activities that help young people imagine how their interests and ideas can contribute to meaningful change in their home communities.
At the heart of the summit is one big idea: young people have the power to transform themselves, their schools, and their communities.
July 24–26 · West Virginia University, Morgantown
KEY INFORMATION
-
Registration for the program
closes on Friday June 12th @ 5pm.
-
Scholarships
for all in need (Our goal is to remove all barriers to participation)
-
Cost of Summit is $695 and
includes Housing, Food and Activities (Due July 24)
- Pre-work is required, will be mailed to the youth's home address and must be completed (community artifacts, photos, music selections) prior to arrival and brought to the summit.
- Summit check-in begins Friday July 24 @ 9:00am
- Summit check-out begins Sunday July 26 @ 3:00pm
- All students will stay in safe, supervised dorm housing @ Oakland Hall, WVU
- All students will have meals in WVU Dining Hall
Youth Summit Schedule 2026
CRC Symposium — Let's Grow Together
The 2026 CRC Symposium "Let's Grow Together" brings students, scholars, and community partners into a shared space to celebrate the transformative power of community engaged research. Each year, the symposium highlights long-term project partnerships that have grown through university–community collaboration and creates opportunities for new conversations, friendships and ideas to take root. In doing so, the togetherness at the symposium reminds us that resilient communities are cultivated through meaningful relationships, shared knowledge, and collective action.
The Resilient Communities Engaged Research Dialogues Series
The Resilient Communities Engaged Research Dialogues Series welcomes community-engaged scholars to share insights on their approaches, orientations, and efforts to generate knowledge and contribute to social transformation. We elevate conversations on key concepts and methodologies used by community engaged scholars while fostering an uplifting atmosphere.
All dialogues will take place online. Viewers and listeners can tune in via Zoom or in-person at the CRC in Brooks Hall. Zoom details will be provided to registered participants.
Advance registration is required. You can register here.
About the Series
Community-engaged scholars are invited to share insights on their approaches, orientations, and efforts to generate knowledge and contribute to social transformation.
We elevate conversations on key concepts and methodologies used by community engaged scholars while fostering an uplifting atmosphere.
Geographies of Possibility:
Engaged Research, Pedagogies and Partnerships in Hard Times
Early Career Scholar Convergence
We are living through what many simply call hard times. Across regions and institutions, people are confronting overlapping economic, ecological, and political crises that strain livelihoods and unsettle long-standing assumptions about the future. Yet hard times are also moments of conjuncture when communities organize, experiment, and build new forms of solidarity.
For scholars committed to community-engaged research, the question is not only how to analyze these transformations, but how to accompany communities in the collective work of imagining and creating more just and resilient futures.
Rajesh Tandon
A world-renowned leader in participatory research and community-engaged scholarship, Rajesh Tandon brings decades of experience advancing socially responsible higher education and grassroots knowledge co-creation.
Conference Details