VOICES Explore Teen Peer Pressures and Media Manipulation

In 2011-2012, VOICES worked in two groups that chose to call themselves "The Peoples VOICE" and "Ambitious VOICES."  After several months of team building, issue identification and media training, the groups chose to focus on media influence and peer pressure as their topics. "The People’s VOICE" created a short film titled Music Media Influences that displays a variety of techniques used by the media to influence its viewers. The students acted out three skits to depict how the media spins and misrepresents music celebrity culture. The skits explored the problem of showing celebrities in the midst of all their success without addressing what it took to get there, using celebrities to promote things that they themselves do not necessarily endorse or believe in, and by using celebrities to set trends. "Ambitious VOICES" created a mini docudrama Pressure focusing on sex and STD’s. To demonstrate that teens encounter both positive and negative forms of peer pressure when it comes to sexual behavior, the film follows a young couple who is not only pressured into having sex but is also pressured into getting tested and being responsible.

On May 12, 2012 over 30 students presented their final projects to friends, family and the UCCP staff. The final event was planned and facilitated by our current high school seniors as an extra leadership opportunity, and consisted of icebreakers, a poem/spoken word performance, power point presentations and the premiere of their films. The event served as a space for the students to take what they had learned throughout the year and engage others in conversations around the issues they chose that affect them most. 

POWER Interns take on Media Influences, Sex Ed and Legal Rights

This academic year we had two cycles of the POWER Internship.

18 students completed the Fall cycle, from November to March, representing six different schools: Franklin Learning Center, South Philadelphia High School, George Washington Carver, Freire Charter School, Parkway NW for Social Justice and Peace and Parkway West. Both groups focused on role of media in the lives of youth, creating two PSAs that deal with the issue: My Media Brain and Peer Pressure in the Media. (Click on the titles to see the video). My Media Brain interrogates stereotypes of young people in Philadelphia and affirming that young people are not who the media portrays them to be with the declaration “I am not my media brain.”  Peer Pressure in the Media addresses the negative messages that are sent to young people through the media and how this can impact their choices and lives. It also explores the role of friends and peers in encouraging behaviors presented in the media. Through their PSA the interns sought to engage their peers in conversations about resisting what the media (focusing on music and television) often defines as “cool.” The students designed workshops around their PSAs and presented to other students at Parkway NW High School for Peace and Social Justice and to UCCP’s VOICES after school program.

25 students from Freire Charter School, Bodine High School for International Affairs, Mariana Bracetti Charter School, Eastern University Academy Charter School, Mastery Charter School Lenfest campus, Mastery Charter School Shoemaker Campus, Mastery Charter School Thomas Campus, and Simon Gratz High School participated in the Spring cycle of the POWER Internship. They produced two PSAs, focusing on issues of sex education and community policing. House Party Problems depicts the consequences of parents not talking about sex with their children and the lack of comprehensive sex education in schools. They chose this topic because most of the students in the program do not receive sex education in school and free condoms are not available for students at most of their schools. The interns visited the Mazzoni Center and participated in a workshop on STIs, safer sex, reproduction and birth control.  They used some of the information they collected from the workshop to create their own workshop around their PSA. The Know Your Rights PSA was created to inform young people of their rights when confronted by the police and how to best handle such confrontations. The interns in this group chose this topic after engaging in discussions about the lack of positive relationships between the police and young people in Philadelphia. The interns presented their PSAs to their peers, family members and UCCP staff and facilitated an engaging dialogue about the issues raised in their projects. 

Youth Action Scholars: Inequality in Education

Lypheng Kim, sophomore at Mastery Charter (Thomas) leading a
"3 Corners" activity at the final Youth Action Scholars event.

This spring, our Youth Action Scholars worked hard to put together an educational and interactive workshop on inequality in our education system, an issue that feels especially timely given the current state of public education here in Philadelphia.  The project was inspired by a field trip the Scholars took on the 23 bus, which stretches the length of the city, starting on Oregon Ave in South Philadelphia and ending at the top of Germantown Ave in Chestnut Hill.  This look at the vast differences (and inequities) that exist in communities that are so close geographically, prompted them to examine the differences between two high schools that sit along the 23 route. Their workshop focused on the differences in demographics and funding at Germantown High School and Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School.  They facilitated their workshop for an audience of almost 50 people at their final event on Temple's campus on May 23.  The five Youth Action Scholars who completed the year were articulate, thoughtful, talented, and committed to raising awareness about how educational inequality affects young people in Philadelphia.  We are very proud of them!

POPPYN receives PhillyCAM IMPACT Award

On March 29th, 2012, UCCP's youth produced news show POPPYN was honored with the 2nd Annual PhillyCAM IMPACT Award for an organizational member.   PhillyCAM's IMPACT Awards acknowledge the exceptional work of members who create programs that inspire Philadelphians to improve the quality of their communities.

The POPPYN team received the award at PhillyCAM's Annual Member Meeting at the Philadelphia History Museum. The crew is incredibly honored by PhillyCAM's recognition of our commitment to and evolution in creating an innovative, engaging and authentic outlet for youth representation in Philadelphia. PhillyCAM has been a tremendous supporter of the show for the past two years - through consulting, distribution, training and hosting POPPYN events. It's a strong and wonderful partnership, and the IMPACT award is an official declaration of that mutual respect.

WATCH A 2 MINUTE TRAILER OF POPPYN BELOW: 

Temple News: UCCP program earns PhillyCAM Impact Award

Strengthening Our Democratic Enterprise: Education Policy in the 21st Century

UCCP Executive Director, Dr. Barbara Ferman was a featured blogger on "The Education Optimists," one of the best education blogs of 2010 according to the Washington Post.

Dr. Ferman's post explains the principles and practices of Action Civics - "an iterative process of issue identification, research, constituency building, action, and reflection that is used to address real-world experiences that apply to the lives of students." UCCP is one of the founding members of the National Action Civics Collaborative (NACC).

Read the full article here.

UCCP Summer Academy 2011

This summer, UCCP hosted another successful summer academy, providing an opportunity for 25 Philadelphia youth and 9 Leader Corps members to spend 6 weeks working to develop leadership and media production skills and educate others about important issues in their community.

Read the stories about specific projects below and check out some more pictures of this summer on our Flickr account!

POPPYN Summer 2011!

This summer UCCP’s home-grown news show POPPYN (Presenting Our Perspective on Philly Youth News) welcomed a new cohort of young members to its team, representing many Philadelphia neighborhoods and schools: Kensington/ Kensington Culinary Academy, Olney/ Science Leadership Academy, Center City/ Mastery Charter School, South Philly/ Horace Furness High School, North Philly/ Tacony Academy, Brewerytown/ Constitution High. Students were trained by UCCP’s veteran V-Media producers Saeed Briscoe and Taesha White on media production and literacy, with support of Temple University intern Lynsey Graeff.

The new crew learned the mission of POPPYN and what it takes to produce an episode by jumping right into the process, assuming the jobs of researchers, anchors, reporters, camera people and editors in the production of POPPYN #5! Episode 5 focused on food in Philadelphia, highlighting the efforts of youth-led urban nutrition and gardening programs like Urban Nutrition Initiative and Teens 4 Good. Also featured were interviews and facts about teens’ favorite foods, a deconstruction of ethnic food stereotypes and a report from a National youth-run community-agriculture conference called Rooted in Community. You can see all these stories as well as more creative interpretations of the theme on POPPYN’s website: http://whatspoppyn.blogspot.com

Additionaly, four of the young POPPYN crew member had an opportunity to participate in the National Association for Media Literacy Education conference this July in Philadelphia. Our participants worked with youth from all over the country as part of the M3 (Modern Media Makers) camp, dedicating over 48 hours of their weekend to collaborative production of 5 short genre-specific film pieces that creatively interpret the definition of media literacy. See their amazing, hilarious and inspired work at the NAMLE M3 blog: http://namle.net/2011/08/18/modern-media-makers-m3-archive-project-philly-2011/

A big thank you to Mosi Blaylock, a UCCP Leaders Corps member who accompanied and supported the youth at M3 through the entire camp.

Third year of YAS to a strong start!

The 2011-2012 Youth Action Scholars are off to a great start! This past July, 20 high school students from a variety of schools and neighborhoods came together to take part in the six-week summer session kick-off of the program year. Led by Leader Corps members Kenny Williams-Medley and Earla Joseph, this year's YAS participants are looking at two important issues that affect their communities. Kenny's group is investigating Diversity and Immigration in Philadelphia, specficially looking at how immigration is affecting and changing the face of our city, as well as the unique set of issues and challenges immigrants (especially immigrant youth) and their communities face once they arrive here in Philadelphia. Earla's group is taking a closer look at the Juvenile Justice System, and the racial and socioeconomic inequalities which result in the incarceration of a disproportionate amount of poor and minority youth. The students worked hard to put together two interactive and engaging workshops on their respective topics, which they were able to practice for family and friends at the final event. This fall, their hard work will continue with the addition of a media component to each workshop, field trips to community organizations, presenting their workshops to peer and adult groups, and more. We are looking forward to a productive and inspriring year!

Leadership Development Institute 2011

Every summer we provide the opportunity for a select group of past participants and Temple University students to participate in our Leadership Development Institute (LDI) to gain a working knowledge of our organization, the process of youth leadership development and project facilitation. Successful graduates of the LDI are eligible to become part of UCCP’s Leaders Corps, a dedicated group of talented young adults who facilitate all of our programs.

LDI participants are trained on hard skills of facilitation, project planning, curriculum development, issue research, and UCCP’s philosophy of youth-led project-based learning. As part of their training the LDI participants, like the youth they’ll be working with, have to collectively identify an issue, create a media project, prepare a presentation, and facilitate an activity. Through the experiential learning process, the LC-in-training gain a better understanding of the challenges they’ll face in supporting a youth-driven community engagement project.

Five outstanding young people completed the LDI this summer, producing a powerful project on the representation of women in the media. We are excited to welcome them to the Leaders Corps: Lynsey Graeff and Jessica Arce who will be working with POPPYN, Taneka Price and Adeoyin Otolorin ‘Dee’ who will be working with VOICES and Norman Scott who will be working with the POWER Internship.

Youth Action Scholars take "Reality Check" to Free Minds Free People!

Youth Action Scholars Taneka Price and Jabari Jackson, with the leadership of Kenny Williams-Medley and Alie Huxta presented a powerful interactive workshop to an audience of more than 30 youth and adults at the Free Minds Free People conference in Providence, RI. Workshop attendees got a "Reality Check" on the relationships between media ownership and representation and school funding and leadership. Content for the workshop has been developed by Youth Action Scholar participants in the "Education" and "Race, Culture & Mass Media" groups over the course of 2010-2011 program year. Thank you FMFP for the amazing opportunity to share and network with likeminded social justice educators!

2011 Experiment in International Living Recepients!

Over the past 8 years the UCCP has partnered with the Experiment in International Living to provide a unique opportunity for students to travel & study abroad. We have supported 27 students over the years. They can choose from 52 programs in 29 different countries around the world! The program couples rural home-stay experiences with tailored intensive arts, language, or community service exposure. This summer:

Johntel Ogden (High School Junior/ Youth Action Scholar) will spend 4 weeks between Guadix, Preiego de Cordoba with his host family near the Mediterranean. The second half of his trip will be spent in Adelucia, Spain studying at a Spanish language school testing out his new vocabulary navigating the plaza and markets while participating in an annual celebrations including a festival and parade.

Angela Hagins (High School Sophomore/ VOICES after school program Participant) will be on a Costa Rican ecological adventure! Her 5 week trips starts with studying nature reserves and bio-parks in San Jose. She wraps up her trip with a 12 day homestay in Pejivalle/Sante Maria surrounded by sugar cane fields and green mountains (untouched by industrialization)

The students were assisted by a wonderful Political Sceince intern Atusa Shirasb!

VOICES on Dating Violence, Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem

This semester VOICES welcomed 3 first-time Leaders Corps instructors (Donyel Gaymon, Jaimie White & Akua Whitaker) along with two senior LC members to facilitate 3 projects with 31 VOICES participants. After excellent presentations at the Project Proposal showcase this past December the students used that feedback to fuel their project ideas and take their campaigns to the next level.

One group tackled Cyber Bullying by presenting a workshop to their high school peers. Using their personal experiences of being bullied, witnessing a bullying incident or even being the bully themselves, the participants designed the activities and their message to offer holistic solutions for all who are affected.

A group of high school seniors from South Philly, Strawberry Mansion and Parkway Northwest high schools found the common thread of their senior projects in the importance of building Self-Esteem and Confidence. They presented a workshop and a PSA to a room with middle school students at Penrose Recreation Center and led a dialog around the importance of "believing in yourself." All who attended left inspired!

Another group decided to tackle the lack of resources offered to youth when they are in situations of Dating Violence. They produced a film to show the warning signs and to offer help to both males and females who are being abused verbally, physically and mentally by a partner.

This VOICES semester was filled with hard work but also lots of fun rewards, including an ice skating event at Penn's Landing, Spring Break Activities that included our annual ice cream social & game night, and a Saturday afternoon of Laser Tag, bowling, pool, games and pizza in Feasterville, Pa.

Thank you to our Political Science Interns from PS3132 (Hillary Garvanne, Josh Grajewski, Brittany Wilkerson and Andrew Bollinger) as well as media prodution support from Saeed Briscoe, Nastassia Harewood, and Jessica Arce.

Starfinder Project Based Collaboration

Since January 2011, UCCP has been working with Starfinder Foundation, a youth empowerment soccer program, to train a number of their high school students for their summer jobs as soccer coaches. Using UCCP's signature Project Based Collaboration format, Johannah Bennett and Kenny Williams-Medley have conducted workshops on diversity, public speaking, team work, leadership, critical thinking while developing a project on the student-chosen issue of Teen Pregnancy. In the course of 7 weeks, students created a variety of mini-skits in order to spark dialogues between teens and parents. The skits focused on a variety of scenarios that teens may find themselves in (being home alone with a boyfriend, not using protection and getting pregnant, going to a party where there is alcohol). The participants presented their skits to the UCCP's Youth Action Scholars. Currently, UCCP and Starfinder are continuing their partnership, develop ing a curriculum for their youth summer camp and training their youth leaders on facilitation and lesson planning.

POWER Fall 2010: "We are All Human"

The Fall 2010 POWER Interns finished their semester with a success! The Interns, coming form Parkway Northwest, Science Leadership Academy and Freire Charter School, created a PSA titled “We Are All Human”, focusing on bringing awareness and fostering a dialogue amongst viewers around stereotypes and the negative impact they have on individuals and groups.

During the first weeks of POWER Internship, students participated in a variety of activities that challenged them to think deeper about how we are all affected by stereotypes and the impact it has on us personally. One of the most significant activities they participated in was “Identity Politics”, where Interns had to write 5 things about themselves that others had perceived of them. Quietly, Interns walked around and read the stereotypes that others and maybe even themselves had placed on one another. This is what solidified them as a team it enabled them to open up and trust one another.

The POWER Interns completed their workshop at Science Leadership Academy for 15 other students; they screened their PSA, facilitated activities, and engaged the audience in a discussion around this very sensitive topic.

Watch their PSA here:

Youth Action Scholars take "Reality Check" on the Road

This spring has been a busy time for the Youth Action Scholars! This April they did their workshop "Reality Check: Beyond the Classroom" for participants at Starfinder Foundation, an organization that empowers youth through soccer. The high school seniors YAS presented to said that they "got to learn things they would never learn in school," which is what YAS is all about. Here is how the Scholars explain it:

What is "Reality Check"?

As students, we spend a lot time sitting in class and consuming media. Did you ever start to question these everyday experiences? Our workshop will look at these everyday surroundings, especially our Education and Media, and question the ideas formed by what we learn in school and see on TV and in movies. We will also break down the issues caused by media’s stereotypes of black people and education inequality to see how they can be addressed through action on different levels, whether it is between friends, in the government, or even your own mind. So get ready go BEYOND THE CLASSROOM for a REALITY CHECK.

Youth Action Scholars hosted a Teen Cafe at the Honickman Center at 23rd and Diamond St.on May 6th and presented "Reality Check" to a group of 30 youth. Participants included youth from Norris Square Neighborhood Project, UCCP and surrounding area. The youth had a similar response to "Reality Check" as Starfinder participants. One student from NSNP wrote on our evaluation that this workshop is going to "make me more critical of the TV shows I watch."

But YAS's largest opportunity is still to come! This July YAS was chosen to present at the Free Minds Free People Conference from July 8th to the 10th. 3 youth action scholars, Taneka Price, Alisha Simpkins, and Jabari Jackson will take Reality Check national! The mission of the Free Minds Free People Conference is:

Free Minds, Free People is a national conference that brings together teachers, high school and college students, researchers, parents and community-based activists/educators from across the country to build a movement to develop and promote education as a tool for liberation. We seek to develop ways of teaching and learning both in and out of school that help us to build a more just society. The conference is a space in which these groups can learn from and teach each other, sharing knowledge, experience and strategies. Read more about the conference here: http://www.freemindsfreepeople.org/about

Community Engagement Goes "Down Under"

Barbara Ferman, the UCCP’s Executive Director, was invited by the Australian Universities Community Engagement Alliance to be a visiting international scholar this past spring. On what turned out to be a whirlwind tour of the country, she conducted over 15 workshops at 9 universities on topics related to how universities can more effectively work with their surrounding communities. The topics included Community Based Research; Engaged Teaching; Experiential Learning; Infrastructure and Capacity Building to support this work; and Youth Leadership Development, among others. True to fashion, the Australians were highly welcoming and exceptionally gracious. And, it was most inspiring to share cross cultural experiences on and hopes for university community engagement.

In the News: "From Philadelphia to Whyalla - models of community engagement."

What was POPPYN about 2010 (and how can it keep POPPYN in 2011?)

Did you know that only 1% of youth-related stories in the mainstream media focus on "good deeds?" Privileged to be working with Philadelphia youth, we are better informed about the huge the contribution young people make to our city. So this Fall at the UCCP we launched a new initiative called POPPYN, which stands for Presenting Our Perspective onPhilly Youth News. It's a youth-produced news show about issues and events in Philadelphia that so often get ignored or misrepresented by the mainstream media. Our pilot episode is in the last stages of post-production and will be coming out - and coming to your e-mail box - very soon!

Inspired by our own co-opting of the adjective poppin' (which means both "cool" and "happening"), we asked the UCCP Leaders Corps and staff what was POPPYN for them in 2010. We also borrowed an idea from the "If I Had a Trillion Dollars" contest (we used it in our after school program to explore how the money spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could be better distributed to help our community) and asked the LC what they would buy the UCCP if they had a Trillion Dollars. Hey - it's fun to dream!

Check out their answers in the video below:

Um, so.. our slightly more REALISTIC Wishlist includes getting our own lounge at Temple University, updating our cramped offices with new technology, investing in new state-of-the art media equipment to make initiatives like POPPYN even more, well, poppyn!... But also the little things that an organization working with youth never stops needing:Tokens, Pizza, Snacks, Board Games, Gift Cards, tickets to cool events,a Button Maker and of course Cold Hard Cash so we can take our participants to national conferences, support them traveling to other countries through Experiment in International Living, and paying the salaries of our staff and Leaders Corps. At the end of the day, it's all those little things that help us together create a city culture where youth feel supported, encouraged and represented.

You are a big part of what makes UCCP so POPPYN.

Please buy us something. The little stuff really adds up.

Happy Holidays.

<3

The UCCP

Send cold hard cash (in check form) to:
UCCP-Temple University
4th Floor Gladfelter Hall, 1115 W. Berks St
Philadelphia, PA 19122

Moving On & Moving In...

As some of you know, Alison (Alie) Huxta served as the UCCP’s VISTA for two years, during which time she took what was a very small POWER Internship program with a handful of students from a couple of high schools and built it into a truly POWERful part of the UCCP’s Leadership Development Continuum serving 30-35 juniors and seniors from over 20 high schools each year. The issues that these students have taken on during their internships (e.g. sexual violence; excessive consumerism and environmental sustainability; teen pregnancy; and media influence on youth), the energy and passion that they bring back to their schools and their fellow students and the written and verbal evaluations of the program from both participants and teachers, provide ample evidence of the amazing impact of Alie’s work. Alie also played a major role in shaping the Youth Action Scholars, the newest part of our Continuum, in which youth serve as peer educators on critical issues facing their communities and their schools. Despite our best efforts to keep Alie within the UCCP, she has decided to take a much needed “chill.” The entire UCCP family wishes Alie all the best as she travels, on foot and by car, through the back roads of the US. We are confident that she will make many discoveries and share them all with us when she returns. We can’t wait to hear the stories!

We are thrilled to welcome back Johannah Bennett, a former Leaders Corps member, who will become our new VISTA and who will coordinate the POWER Internship. Although Johannah left the Leaders Corps in 2009, she never really left the UCCP. She has formally collaborated with us from her positions with other organizations and, as the consummate networker, has always sought out exciting opportunities for the UCCP. Johannah already has a long list of plans for the POWER Internship and for the UCCP overall. I know they will be innovative, ambitious and lead to many fruitful prospects. If Johannah has not reached out to you yet, she will be doing so shortly. Let’s give her a wonderful welcome back!

Going National: Redefining What Civics Education is About

In early September, the UCCP joined four other organizations in Boston for two days of intensive sharing, brainstorming and visioning on how best to prepare young people to be lifelong participants and leaders in the civic and political spheres. The organizations represent geographic and programming diversity but all share our passion for equipping young people with the skills, knowledge, and values that enable them to have an active voice in the issues that matter to them and to the larger society. The meetings resulted in a commitment to collaborate on promoting and expanding the practice of Action Civics, a process through which young people identify and address issues of importance to them through research, constituency building, action and reflection. Action Civics meets youth where they are and supports and values their voice, knowledge, experience and perspective. The organizations will share practices and tools, reach out to other organizations engaged in similar work, and develop strategies for re-defining the way civics is understood and practiced in schools and after school settings. We are thrilled to be part of this timely and critical work with CIRCLE (Tufts University in Massachusetts), Earth Force (Denver), Generation Citizen (Boston and Providence, RI), Mikva Challenge (Chicago) and Youth on Board (Boston). Stay tuned for updates on this exciting campaign.

Funding Updates

We are extremely pleased to announce that the UCCP has been awarded three year grants from both the Pew Charitable Trusts and the William Penn Foundation. The Pew grant is to support our Progressive Youth Leadership Development Continuum while the William Penn Grant is to help us better align our activities and the activities of other out of school time providers with the city and school district’s educational priorities of decreasing the dropout rate and increasing the number of Philadelphia students who enter and complete college. We are proud to be a key part of these important goals. We also extend a deep thanks to YOUTHadelphia, the Youth Philanthropy Committee of the Philadelphia Foundation, for its support of our Youth Action Scholars initiative and to PHENND (the Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development) for providing funding to help us launch our newest initiative, Youth Action News. Finally, we thank the wonderful individuals who gave generously to help us out in these hard economic times.