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.

18 new Youth Have the POWER (internship)!

18 high school juniors and seniors are currently interning with the UCCP through our innovative POWER Internship program. The POWER Partnership Schools this semester are Parkway North West, Parkway West, Bodine High School, Science Leadership Academy, and Elverson Military Academy. This batch of POWER interns are already outdoing last year’s group with their heated political discussions and leadership drive. In the past five sessions, the youth have explored Temple University’s campus, learned about and reflected on the systems of Power and Oppression in larger society and everyday realities, and organized and facilitated a Social Justice leaders panel with amazing Philadelphia educators and activists including Sandrine Dupiton, founder and editor of Change X magazine, Barbara Bungy, Youth Testing & Prevention Services Program Coordinator in the Pediatric/Adolescent HIV/AIDS Program at St. Christopher's Children's Hospital, Gary Browne, former CityYear volunteer, current LC member and college student and Liz Grinaldi, Executive Director of the Village of Arts and Humanities. After the holiday break, students will begin to choose which social problem they want to tackle, but so far they have really appreciated the space to discuss their thoughts about larger political and social issues that affect their lives. As one student shared gratefully, "I love to voice my opinion, and here, we get to just TALK!"

Stay tuned for their projects next semester. POWER internship is currently recruiting students for its Spring Internship cycle. Contact alisonhuxta [at] yahoo.com to get your students involved.