My World With Peace

With the help of mini-grant funding from Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition under the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia initiative, the University Community Collaborative of Philadelphia sought to strengthen the existing relationship between the UCCP’s Temple Youth VOICES Project and the Skills for Life (SFL) Program at the Vare Beacon center in South Philadelphia. A total of 18 students between the ages of 14 and 18 in grades 9- 12 participated in the project. Their hope was to create a local campaign for peace that put youth as the centerpiece of violence reduction efforts.

This was an opportunity for the high school students in the SFL program to gain hands-on workshop planning, development and facilitation skills while sharing knowledge with younger children. Over the course of eight sessions, for two hours every Wednesday beginning April 8, 2009 until May 27, 2009 the students researched activities and prepared icebreakers and discussion questions to engage other youth around violence, peer influence and assertive communication. These activities were planned for the culminating all-day Saturday workshop to follow.

The Youth Leaders for Peace Conference (YLPC) took place on Saturday May 30, 2009 at Temple University. Twenty-eight (28) youth between the ages of 8-12 accompanied by 5 adults participated from the community surrounding E.H. Vare Middle School in South Philadelphia. The conference activities included a sharing circle, interactive problem-solving simulations, an art activity to help us envision a world with peace and reflection journaling.

On June 18th the UCCP staff hosted a Community Recognition Dinner to honor both the SFL and conference participants and their families. Everyone received a completion certificates and many shared excerpts from their reflection papers. One Skills for Life Instructors commented that she “could not miss the opportunity to see her kids get recognized for something so great.”