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!

The Bridge to the Future: UCCP at the Youth Development Conference!

On December 11, 2008 the UCCP once again had a strong showing at the United Way Youth Development Conference. Members of the Leaders Corps facilitated two widely attended workshops, one on Youth, Media and Identity and the other on Spoken Word as a powerful tool for youth voice. In addition, the UCCP staff was in constant conversation with youth and adults who stopped by The Temple Youth VOCIES Information Table and members of V-Media rounded out the day's activities by interviewing youth for 'Feelin' the Cuts' and capturing the Mayor's address to Philadlephia youth on film.

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.

UCCP Has Strong Presence at Eastern Regional Conference on After-School

Dominic Eason, a member of the Leaders Corps and Barbara Ferman, Executive Director of the UCCP, participated in a workshop on “Diversity in High School After School Programs” for practitioners and decision makers from Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. The Workshop focused on various approaches to effectively engaging youth in out of school time activities while building their leadership capacities and academic competencies. Dominic Eason was also part of the plenary panel on “Youth and Youth Workers” offering his insights into the ingredients of quality after school programming. The annual conference was hosted by The After-School Institute (TASI). Held in Baltimore on May 8-9, the conference attracted close to 500 practitioners, decision makers, funders and youth participants from the Mid Atlantic region.

A Proposal to Launch the Country's First Public Service Academy

On March 26th, 2008, the UCCP, together with the Department of Political Science and the College of Liberal Arts, hosted a talk by Dr. Chris Myers Asch on his proposal to launch the country's first Public Service Academy. The Academy is a national initiative to build a civilian counterpart to the military service academies. The proposed Academy, which will offer four years of tuition free education in exchange for five years of civilian service following graduation, has the support of more than 110 members of Congress and has been highlighted by Time Magazine as one of the top ten ideas the next president should embrace to reinvigorate civic life. Over 40 Temple students, faculty, UCCP staff and VOICES internship participants attended the talk, raising some key questions about the nature of the proposed Academy, its recruitment strategy, its location, its ability to change public service and the like. Overall, it was a very lively and thought provoking discussion.

"Reporting From the Home Front: Families, Work and Money"

On November 12th a delegation of young leaders from the University Community Collaborative of Philadelphia (UCCP) addressed an audience of prominent journalists at a conference entitled “Reporting from the Home Front: Families, Work and Money,” convened by the Journalism Center on Children and Families. Held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the conference provided an opportunity for selected print, broadcast and on-line journalists from across the Mid Atlantic region of the U.S. to sharpen their understanding of, and ability to report on, issues stemming from poverty.

Among the conference presenters from the UCCP were three Temple students, one Temple alum and two Community College students who are planning on coming to Temple. Using specific examples from their lives, these young adults spoke with great wisdom and clarity about the challenge of setting and achieving goals in the face of poor public housing, an inadequate public education system and the criminal justice system's failure to support policies and programs that reduce recidivism.

After a powerful round of opening statements, the group answered questions posed by the conference participants. It was an important opportunity for the young presenters to both elaborate on their experiences and back up their conclusions. The audience was so captivated that individual follow-up conversations continued well into the lunch break that followed the presentations.

“Going to the conference was a rewarding experience for me,” said Temple Junior, Genisha Wallace, a Criminal Justice Major from Brooklyn, New York. “In all my experience with public speaking engagements, I have never felt that my opinion was more respected and admired. Society regards the media as a source for news, ideas and public opinion. Therefore, I was honored to inform reporters about important aspects of my life. I felt like I was speaking for positive people in my generation everywhere. On that day, in that room, I was able to dispel many of the myths and stereotypes that shape stories about inner city youth.”

Sponsored by the Journalism Center on Children and Families:
>>http://www.journalismcenter.org/

"Investing in Urban Communities" Conference

On April 11, 2007, The Fox School of Business at Temple University will host its Second Annual Social Entrepreneurship Conference: “Investing in Urban Communities: Balancing Growth & Inclusion”. This conference, co-sponsored by the Business School's Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the University Community Collaborative and the College of Liberal Arts, will feature investors, developers, university representatives and community organizations discussing the challenges faced by community-oriented investors as they “go to scale,” broaden their capital base and so face potentially conflicting pressures between various stakeholders. Through panel discussions and break-out workshops, this conference will explore whether or not governance structures help mediate these tensions and whether or not these structures enhance the flows of financial and social capital for entities (banks, developers), projects and markets (commercial corridors, neighborhoods, cities). Specific examples might include: the challenges faced by community-based investors or developers as they “go to scale”; the challenges private developers face when they attempt to seriously consider community concerns; the potentials and the pitfalls of community-private, or community-public-private development partnerships. For more information or to RSVP, please contact: T. L. Hill at >>thill@temple.edu