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.

Summer Academy 2010

The UCCP concluded its 2010 Summer Academy with a genuine triumph. On August 10th we hosted what will hopefully become an annual tradition – the Summer Summit – a day long event engaging youth and allies in interactive workshops, film screenings and community presentations.

The 2010 Summer Summit was an example of UCCP’s Youth Leadership in action. It was planned and facilitated by this year’s Leadership Development Institute participants – 18 and 19 year old youth training to become part of our Leaders Corps. The LDI participants created flyers, signs and program agendas, MC-ed the event, directed the audience to appropriate destinations, ordered and served food and made sure everything ran smoothly. They did a fantastic job and gained an experience in organizing and coordinating events that will be useful in their work at the UCCP and in colleges they heading to in the Fall. In addition to their preparation for the final event, the LDI participants learned many aspects of youth leadership development, lesson planning and facilitation and created and facilitated activities for younger youth from UCCP's programs and a new partner this summer - Cradles for Crayons.

Our second year cohort of Youth Action Scholars had the opportunity to test their workshops on Education and Race, Culture and Mass Media that they have been designing and practicing over the summer. The Scholars created 4 workshops on: how oppression affects education, contemporary representations of blackface in the media, where school funding comes from and how it works and analyzing symbols in popular and ancient cultures. They did a great job facilitating and engaging their workshop audience in interactively learning critical issues and applying them to their own lives. If you or your organization is interested in hosting a YAS workshop, please contact Phil Scott at apscott@temple.edu.

The Summit also features a gallery exhibit and documentary screening by a group of 10 students who participated in a PhotoVoice process of documenting positive and negative aspects of their Philadelphia communities through digital photography. Graciously hosted at Tyler School of Art’s beautiful Student Lounge, the exhibit, entitled “The Ghetto is Not Our Final Destination” showed Philadelphia from the eyes of these youth. Their documentary elaborated on issues of safety and violence in Philadelphia. The PhotoVoice project is especially grateful to our partners Maria Kefalas, Jill Chonody, Jill Welsh and Shayna McConville for supporting the group through contributions of finances, facilitation and facilities!

Finally, this summer’s three introductory VOICES groups presented their films on Violence, Teen Parenting and STDs. The groups spent 6 weeks learning essential skills including teamwork and public speaking while identifying a collective issue, researching about it and working together to create a film to address it. The groups created informative and engaging videos and power point presentations that they presented to an audience of youth and adults and received feedback for their work.

We as the UCCP staff and Leaders Corps feel incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to spend 6 weeks with these amazing and inspiring young people.

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.

VOICES Fall 2009 & Project Proposal Showcase

This semester VOICES welcomed three first-time Leaders Corps instructors, one Temple Political Science intern & twenty four new participants. For eight weeks, the youth and their young adult facilitators engaged in dialogue and workshops on community awareness and critical thinking. Using Philadelphia as their classroom and current events as the content, the groups discussed issues affecting the students, such as the Septa strike, increased school funding and rising racial violence. After researching their issues to develop their arguments, the participants received training from V-Media to create short videos about their issue, as a preview for their larger campaign in Spring 2010. The students showed great passion for their projects, commitment to their group members and increased their public speaking skills.

Youth also had the opportunity to attend two Saturday events this semester: the Temple University Homecoming Football Game at Lincoln Financial Field and Shot!, a "docudrama" about violence in North Philadelphia presented at Tomilson Theater.

We ended of the Fall Semester of VOICES with our annual Project Proposal Showcase on December 12, 2009. Three groups presented PowerPoint and Public Service Announcement videos on the three topics chosen this semester: violence (as played out in the media), high school drop out rate and foster care & adoption. An audience including Temple University professors and students as well as parents, friends and other youth asked the participants questions about the research findings and interviews. Media Literacy and Child and Welfare service providers as gave feedback and encouragement to the students about the work that they have already done.

Please stay tuned in the coming semester to see feature films entitled "Cinderell" and "Violence is Played Out!”

Thanks so much to all who attended and supported our youth!

Summer Academy 2009

This summer, the UCCP supported over 90 youth in becoming more confident and effective leaders! Below we report on our two regular summer programs - the Temple Youth VOICES Summer Academy and the Leadership Development Institute. You can read about the other cool projects we supported this summer here and here and learn about our new big organizational initiative - the Youth Action Scholars!

VOICES 1.0

This summer 28 brand new Philadelphia youth participated in a 6-week Temple Youth VOICES introductory curriculum. Working in two groups and engaging in community awareness activities, critical thinking and media production, the students created two of the best first time short films the summer has ever seen. These youth were instructed by Leaders Corps members Taesha White (Sophomore @ St. Joseph's University) Nastassia Harewood (Graduated from Maritime Academy Charter HS), Kianni Brooks (Freshman @ Eastern University PA) and Reese Acree (member of V-Media), all of whom had been Temple Youth VOICES participants in the past.

The film The Educated Thinkers explores the many dimensions of addiction prevalent among youth today. Through confessions of teens addicted to everything from the Internet and video games to marijuana and sexual promiscuity, the film addresses the dangers and consequences that lurk in young people’s everyday environments. The group presented their project to 10 judges and thousands of other youth at the annual Philadelphia Youth Network Summer Project Convention.

Begging for Love is a film that explores the thin line between child abuse and parental neglect. Through two interconnected stories of young women that suffer from dysfunctional relationships with their parents, the film demonstrates the possible causes and the tragic consequences of family abuse.

Leadership Development Institute

For the fourth summer in a row, the UCCP ran a Leadership Development Institute for young adults interested in becoming part of UCCP’s Leaders Corps. The 6 week institute is open to former Temple Youth VOICES and POWER Internship participants who have graduated from high school and to Temple University students who have interned with the UCCP in the past. The students receive training in curriculum building, lesson planning, project management and facilitation and explore the concepts of youth oppression and empowerment, political education, and personal development. To apply their newly gained knowledge, the LDI students facilitated ice breakers with VOICES 1.0 participants and conducted an all day workshop at the Norris Square Neighborhood Project on Recycling and Urban Gardening. They also received basic training in media production and created a short promotional film for the UCCP.

At the completion of the institute, the trainees are eligible to apply to work with the UCCP in the Fall as facilitators for VOICES afterschool and POWER internship programs. This year’s LDI was facilitated by current LC members Bo Nicholson (Temple Graduate and now first year teacher at Our Mother of Sorrows) and Earl Joseph (who graduated from CCP last may and is beginning his first year at Temple University).

Spring 2009 VOICES Final Showcase

On Saturday, May 9, 2009 the Temple Youth VOICES Project held its FINAL SHOWCASE for 2008-2009! UCCP staff, Leaders Corps members, participants, parents and friends gathered in Temple University’s Student Center to celebrate the hard work done this year by our youth.

The powerful youth-driven social change campaigns included topics such as:

• Teen Neglect
• Youth Violence Reduction
• Youth Representation in the Media
• Youth Voices in the 2009 Budget Process
• Homelessness
• Prejudice

We also highlighted the great work being done at the Penrose Recreation Center by youth from the surrounding community as well as our monthly Teen Health Cafés facilitated by THE NET.

Our participants committed 2 afternoons per week for 20 weeks and invested almost 100 hours into making a difference in their communities!

VOICES Project Proposal Showcase, December 13, 2008

Keeping in line with the VOICES mission to “build relationships with community partners, non-profit organizations and government agencies” to promote positive social change, the Fall 2008 VOICES participants held their first Project Proposal Showcase.

Here participants were able to state their issues, share their standpoints, present group arguments and discuss the changes they would like to see. They also presented the strategies they developed to address the issues, posed possible collaborations and solicited help from attendees to aid in the launching of their campaigns. After their presentations, the participants engaged the audience in a question and answer session and the audience provided written feedback for each group. Following the presentations there was a networking lunch for all to enjoy.

The projects highlighted this semester were: Youth Action 4 Peace and Youth and Media (2.0 projects which are initiatives being worked on by second and third year VOICES participants) and Sexual Health/Teen Pregnancy, Youth Violence, and Promotion of Positive Youth in the City (VOICES 1.0--first year project participants).

The audience was composed of family, friends, and specially invited guests, including Temple University Faculty/Staff, University of Pennsylvania Administrators, Directors of a Graphics Design Company, Philadelphia Public and Charter School Teachers and City Employees.

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.

The Peace Mix

On July 12th, the Temple Youth VOICES Project participated at the Peace MIX - Hip Hop/ Poetry Slam event organized by the Youth Leadership Counsel of the SouthEast Philadelphia Collaborative. The event took place at the Tolentine Community Center in South Philadelphia and included free physical exams for youth, HIV rapid testing, face painting, spoken word, break dance workshops and anti-violence movie clips.

VOICES Invite Parents and Family to Get Involved

On July 8th, the Temple Youth VOICES Summer program hosted a parent night. At the event, parents from youth involved in the program came to Temple University for a few hours of fun and conversation about social issues and their role in making positive social change.

Genisha Wallace and Bo Nicholson, two UCCP Leaders Corps members, organized the agenda. Youth participating in the summer program presented on the projects which are currently in progress among their groups. The groups include the Youth and Media Project, Youth Action 4 Peace and the Leadership Development Institute.

Youth and Violence Forum

On May 21, the UCCP held the Youth and Violence Forum. At the event, youth from various organizations including the Southeast Philadelphia Collaborative, The Norris Square Neighborhood Project and the Temple Youth P.O.W.E.R Internship presented their anti violence initiatives. Jamira Burley, Business Major at Temple University, presented her Peace Core initiative and Hamid Floyd, a Telecommunications Major, also at Temple University, screened his video "What is Violence". Representatives from Motivos magazine, Change X magazine, the Philadelphia Fund for Children and Professors at Temple University also participated at the event.

Hip-Hop and the Community

On May 14, UCCP hosted a film screening and discussion on Hip-Hop and the community, presented by three Philadelphia youth who focused on Hip-Hop as the topic of their high school senior projects. Ted Lacey and Madea Gboyah's documentary "Hip-Hop Effects" explores the effects of the negative messages of the genre through interviews with peers and adults. Tyrone Jones's "Lyrical Controversy" delves into the historical development of Hip-Hop music, addressing cultural and economic factors that influenced the genre's changing messages. Jones, a VOICES participant from Spring 2007 and Lacey and Gboyah, current VOICES P.O.W.E.R. Interns, used UCCP resources, including camera, editing equipment and post-production assistance to make their films. The screening was followed by a lively discussion and debate between youth, parents and community members in attendance.

Temple Youth VOICES First Annual Community Press Conference

On Saturday, May 10th, the UCCP hosted the first annual Temple Youth VOICES Community Press Conference. The event featured a range of dynamic, multi-media presentations summarizing the accomplishments of Temple Youth VOICES participants over the past year. A diverse group of panelists, including a Temple Youth VOICES alumni, a representative from the Philadelphia Freedom Schools, a Philadelphia public school teacher and a member of the UCCP's Leaders Corps provided formal feedback on a wide range of youth driven initiatives presented at the Press Conference. Parents, family members, youth leaders, community organizers and members of the Temple University community who filled the audience were solicited to spread the word about the amazing work Temple Youth VOICES participants are doing to address the issues that impact them, their families and communities.

Temple Youth VOICES Winter Showcase

Temple Youth VOICES Project participants showcased their accomplishments over the fall semester at a recent event held in the Student Activities Center on Temple's Campus. Dynamic groups of young people engaged the audience in a range of interactive activities designed to foster dialogue around issues of importance to youth. They also introduced several project proposals for the spring semester. This year, VOICES participants are gearing up to tackle the following issues:

• Making sex education in schools more interactive and responsive to young people's experiences, perspectives and concerns
• Exploring the influence of drugs on families and communities
• Investigating the impact of incarceration on families and communities

VOICES from the Experiment in International Living

“My first venture outside of the country's border was fantastic,” says Saeed Briscoe of his summer in Chile. Saeed is one of four Temple Youth VOICES participants to earn a scholarship last summer from the Experiment in International Living (EIL). Over the past five years, through a strong and growing partnership with EIL, VOICES participants have traveled to Italy, Spain, Japan, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina, France and England. Rather than visit these countries as a tourist, the Experiment challenges young people to become part of the families and communities that host them, and provides opportunities for them to take part in a wide range of challenging activities, including community service, language instruction, outdoor education, and film and media arts production.

Although each of our scholarship winners has had a unique experience, they all come back with the same underlying message: Living in another country is life changing. Like her peers, Wyneisha Barrett was profoundly impacted by the weeks she spent in Spain this summer, “I've learned to live life to the fullest,” she reflects. “Whether it was in taking my first airplane flight, or speaking out to my group when I felt like something wasn't done properly, I've learned how to be more confident in myself, because what I have to say is important. I'm so grateful that I was chosen to travel abroad this summer. It truly helped me evolve as a person.”

Each year, 10th and 11th grade VOICES participants are eligible to apply for a scholarship with the Experiment in International Living. For more information about the program, see http://www.usexperiment.org or contact Tony Allen at 1-800-345-2929.

Temple Youth VOICES Spring 2008 Showcase

On May 8, 2007 VOICES participants culminated a year long exploration of education in Philadelphia schools with a presentation on their findings, opinions, suggestions, challenges and personal stories. A diverse audience comprised of VOICES youth, instructors, interns as well as families, friends and community members gathered in Tuttleman Hall on the Temple University campus for the event. The different youth comprised committees presented their material via PowerPoint slide shows, spoken word, poetry, audience quizzes and a documentary titled “Whose Tradition is it Anyway?” The presenters discussed such topics as the “No Child Left Behind Act”; the differences between traditional and non-traditional education techniques; the survey they conducted among ninety Philadelphia high school students and its results; the success, experiences and future plans for the Traveling Workshop which visited several local high schools over the winter and spring. A highlight of the event was the attendance of Mayoral candidate, Chaka Fattah, who was challenged to answer what, as Mayor, he would do to ensure that Philadelphia youth are more engaged, challenged and supported in their schools. The event culminated with a “Call to Action” and VOICES youth urged audience members to get involved in anyway possible with the education system in Philadelphia and with VOICES participants’ future work to create change in their schools.