Art for Social Change - Gee's Bend!

Based on the success of the Art for Social Change workshop series last year, UCCP is proud to work with the Philadelphia Museum of Art again to host a series of workshops for young adults around Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt exhibit.

The series will consist of three wednesday sessions starting on October 22, 2008 exploring storytelling, music, writing and quilting while creating a space to think and talk about positive social change in our communities.

Spaces are still available for interested youth. For more information, please contact Catalina Gonzalez at catalia.gonzalez@temple.edu.

UCCP Receives Award from Red Cross

On September 25, 2008 The UCCP received the Red Cross’ Community Partners Award. The award was handed out at the Red Cross annual meeting and celebration of volunteers held at Drexel Hill. Catalina Gonzalez, the Assistant Director, along with the UCCP's Leaders Corp Bo, Malikka, Joi, Gary and Dominic worked with the Red Cross staff and their Youth Council on planning and implementing a Summer Camp on Disaster Preparedness.

First Person Documentary Screening

On Thursday, September 25th, the UCCP welcomed over 150 people to a screening and discussion of FIRST PERSON, the award winning film directed by Ben Herold that documents the lives of six Philadelphia public high school students who aspire to attend college. Following the film, several members of the Leaders Corps joined Malikka Saeed, one of the six students featured in FIRST PERSON, and State Representative Curtis Thomas for a lively panel discussion of the factors that work against Philadelphia youth striving to realize their dreams of higher education. For more information on the film, please visit http://www.firstpersondocumentary.org.

Welcome, Advisory Board!

On September 17th, the UCCP staff and Leaders Corps proudly hosted its first Advisory Board meeting. Taking a seat at the table are Kisha Bird, Director of Pennsylvania State Afterschool/Youth Development Network (PSAYDN); Sharese Bullock, Strategic Partnerships & Marketing Manager at the Listen Up! Youth Media Network; Sonja Peterson-Lewis, Professor of African American Studies at Temple University; Tony Alvarez, Director of School and Community Relations at Marianna Bracetti Academy Charter School; Edurne Irizarry, Assistant Director at Youth United for Change; Sherri Culver, Associate Director of the Media Education Lab at Temple University; and Dominic Eason, UCCP Leaders Corps member and former participant. UCCP is thrilled and honored to have support from this dynamic group of members who bring fresh new perspectives, years of professional expertise and commitment to youth development. The board was developed and facilitated with the consulting help of Laura Otten from the Non Profit Center at LaSalle University.

Youth & Health

For the last three months, the UCCP has been working with youth from Students Run Philly Style, Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Center, Teens 4 Good (Greater Philadelphia Federation of Settlements) and the Temple Youth VOICES Project to create and develop a youth initiative to promote health among youth and their communities. The youth are interested in developing a Youth Health Café, which they hope can become a place where youth from around the city can come to learn, share knowledge and participate in activities and workshops, all in the context of a healthy and safe environment. The project has also involved several Temple professors form the departments of Kinesiology and the Business school, graduate students in Public Health and medicine, undergraduate students and alumni.

New Hires/ Staff Additions

There are some familiar faces back at VOICES this year. The UCCP has expanded its staff with the additions of Ieshia Nelson, Program Coordinator; Alie Huxta, Internship Coordinator (VISTA); and Natalia Smirnov, Media Coordinator. These three ladies are all recent Temple University Alumni and were also members of the Leaders Corps during their undergraduate careers. They have quickly taken to their new positions and gotten to work. The VOICES 2008-2009 project and internship are set to start after significant recruiting efforts. Also check out the revamped ins and outs of the website: http://www.temple.edu/uccp.

Growing the P.O.W.E.R. Internship

The Temple Youth VOICES Project believes that “You have the P.O.W.E.R."! Which is why we are excited about our VOICES P.O.W.E.R. internship, started last fall, where high school Juniors and Seniors learn how to Prepare, Organize, Write, Educate, and Reform (hence P.O.W.E.R) in the context of social change. Currently, with the terrific work of the new Internship Coordinator - Alie Huxta - we are able to offer the opportunity to more youth and schools in Philadelphia. So far we’ve done info sessions with YouthBuild Charter, New Media Technology Charter, and Science Leadership Academy, and had great interactions with youth excited about working with VOICES. Beginning on Oct 22, the youth will start by participating and organizing a Social Justice Leaders Panel, choosing an issue to focus on, doing a scavenger hunt at City Hall, and learning what individual and collective power they have as youth. Additionally, the P.O.W.E.R Internship will urge youth to be socially conscious of what is happening around them, politically, socially, and economically. With these leadership skills, a heightened social consciousness and new experiences with in the political/institutional landscape of Philadelphia, the VOICES P.O.W.E.R interns will begin their paths to re-shape their communities and use their voice to educate others about the injustice they see in their lives. For more information, contact Alie Huxta at alisonhuxta@yahoo.com.

Student Success Center Partnership

The UCCP is proud to share news of an exciting new partnership with the Philadelphia Youth Network’s Student Success Centers (SCC). Over the summer, members of the Leaders Corps worked closely with rising 9th graders at SCCs in Overbrook, University City and Ben Franklin High Schools on a curriculum designed to provide young people with a solid introduction to film production. Across the three schools, the Leaders Corps engaged a total of 45 young people in a range of interactive activities that engaged them in writing, planning, shooting, editing and critiquing their work. All of the students’ mini-projects were compiled to produce a culminating DVD comprised of 20 short film exercises that students proudly screened at their closing celebration, held at Temple on August 6th.

Summer Academy 2008

WHAT IS YOUR VICTORY? This was the question posed of the 2008 Temple Youth VOICES Summer Academy participants. Over 60 youth and young adults from across the city of Philadelphia spent six weeks challenging themselves and each other to work on achieving small every day victories, thus laying the groundwork for realizing larger, collective victories. Some of their victories included a lively blog discussion of media literacy and youth representation, a car wash that raised $500 to support a new ‘for youth, from youth’ scholarship program for Philadelphia high school students, numerous youth driven community workshops and special events, a magazine of youth writing on leadership development, and a premier of Buggin’ Out News, a youth-created satirical newscast showing how stereotypes are constructed in the media.

Wash Away Violence Carwash

Youth Action 4 Peace, a youth led action team that is part of the Temple Youth VOICES Project, is seeking to create peaceful communities by providing youth with real opportunities to fulfill their dreams. They have embarked on a project to raise scholarship money for youth in Philadelphia. In their first foray, a car wash at Our Mother of Sorrows in West Philly, they raised $500 dollars.