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.