POWER goes back to school

The Fall 2009 POWER Intern groups closed out their sessions with two very successful presentations for their high school peers at Mariana Bracetti Academy. Both groups produced Public Service Announcements and designed interactive workshops on their chosen community issues: Sexual Violence and Exessive Consumption = Environmental Degradation. Showing a PSA entitled "Bent But Not Broken," the Sexual Violence group led a health class in a discussion about Rape, Molestation, Prostitution and Sex Trafficking, highlighting their causes, effects, and what to do if you are a victim. The Excessive Consumerism group challenged an environmental science class at Mariana Bracetti Academy with a provocative and creative PSA called "Do You Really Need a Bag?" Scattering plastic bags around the classrooms they asked students to imagine having their space look this way every day. They offered practical tips on recycling and reusing plastic that they learned in their meeting with Philadelphia's Director of Sustainability Katherine Gajewski.

See the Excessive Consumerism group's video below:

2nd Annual Power Breakfast

We are excited to report that our 2nd Annual POWER Internship Breakfast at the University Community Collaborative of Philadelphia (UCCP) on May 13th brought together many of our current, past, and possible future schools together to appreciate the work we have done together and learn more about the other opportunities provided by the UCCP.

In attendance was South Philadelphia High School, West Philadelphia High School, Parkway NW High School for Peace and Social Justice, Marianna Bracetti Academy Charter School, Carver High School for Engineering and Science, YouthBuild Charter, Roxborough High School, Parkway West High School, and William Penn Charter. Several current POWER interns, Nyki Sanders, Fatimah Simpkins, Bradley Harley, Jabari Jackson, and Felicia Houston came to present about their projects and experiences so far.

Because of the cooperation of the schools we work with this year we have been able to bring together students from 17 different Philadelphia schools to address problems in their communities. Interns have created workshops, Public Service Announcements, and community events to bring awareness about these issues and urge other youth to take action. All of this would not be possible with out the collaboration with POWER Partnership schools. At the breakfast we celebrated these victories and also discussed ways to make the POWER internship stronger.

From this meeting the UCCP gained a sense of what each school is willing to contribute to the POWER relationships, including joint fundraising, writing letters of support, helping with recruitment and inviting POWER interns to do workshops at their school. Furthermore, everyone gained a sense of community around creating programs that help youth have a voice for change in their communities and schools.

Youth VOICES on Foster Care and Violence!

On Saturday, May 1st VOICES held its Spring Final Event for the 2009- 2010 after-school programming cycle. This year's projects highlighted issues of the Foster Care/Adoption System & Violence in the city of Philadelphia. The success of this event was demonstrated by enthusiasm of the crowd to get involved in the future of these projects.

This year in particular the participants' projects were very personal to both them and their families: One student's mother was raised by foster parents and another has two adopted siblings; due to a violent incident at one of our participants' schools, his father transferred him to Charter school that is a 25 minute commute from his neighborhood. The final projects, as a result, reflect very deep and personal understanding of the issues: Violence is Played Out is a PSA exploring the many perspectives on how violence affects different Philadelphians, from city officials and parents to college students and youth. The group submitted their film to the Legs Against Arms Video Competition. The Sisters Project is a short film using quotes and stories from interviews with foster care and adopted youth. The students' hope to inspire other youth within these circumstances and bring awareness to adults to get involved by mentoring and or adopting.

The VOICES participants this year have shown tremendous dedication to each other and the program as well as a passion to being a part of the positive change in our community.