Youth Engagement
Philly Urban Creators Inspires our Youth, with Poetry, Food Awareness, and Civic Imagination
Last week’s presentation with the Philadelphia Urban Creators was a tremendous success. We started with a quick recap on the Philly Rising session, since many of the students missed that presentation. The children who were present for that session eagerly caught up their peers on the highlights of the Philly Rising workshop. I was impressed at how well they had retained the information from the week before. It appears they are really taking in the sessions, both actively listening and understanding the topics.
Philadelphia Urban Creators Co-Founder Jeaninne Kayembe came to talk to our students about food access but she opened up the conversation to the students and what was on their mind was broader than food access.
Jeaninne introduced herself and opened with a spoken word piece, the students were instantly intrigued but what they recognized as hip hop and you could see an almost tangible respect for Ms. Jeaninne as she closed her poem. The poem was about earth, women, and respecting each other. It was a very moving piece; you can see the video of Jeaninne’s poem on the Philly311YouthEngagement Facebook page.
After her poem, Jeneanine asked the students if they had ever heard of Whole Foods. What do they sell at whole foods? Where is it located? Who lives there? What is the closest place to your house that you can buy food? Do they sell organic food there? Why not?
One child answers her matter-of-factly, “Because that is not where the money is.” Why do I have to buy the bottom of the barrel? She asks. “Everyone deserves good food.” Another student adds.
“Exactly!” she says, and with that she introduced their urban farm, located at 11th and York. She explains that her and her friends started this garden when they were not much older than our YEP participants. She told the students that they mostly started Hoodstock because they were bored, and also because they wanted everyone to have access to good quality, affordable foods near their homes. She talked to the students about how they found the land for their garden extremely dirty, it had diapers and drug paraphernalia, etc. and they cleaned it up, built garden beds and grew food. She told the children that when they started the organization they had a budget of $0 and have now grossed more than $500,000, attracting the attention of celebrities and local officials alike. She showed pictures from their annual music festival Hoodstock (play on Woodstock, but in the “hood”) with Nick Cannon.
The most important lesson she taught this group was that if you are passionate about something and you set your mind to it, you can make an incredible difference in your community. She also told the children that if they wanted to build an urban garden in their community that they could contact her and she would help them organize it.
Then she gave everyone a piece of paper and instructed them to write down five things that they like about their neighborhood and five things they would change. Many of the students said they wanted to see less litter, less criminal activity, more plants (trees, flowers, fruits and vegitables, etc.) and a greater sense of community.
This process of identifying what you want to see in your neighborhood is civic imagination. First you imagine what it could be, and then you take it into your own hands and you make it happen. One young woman spoke up about how angry she was about the state of her neighborhood, and she was angry at the police who come to her neighborhood and shoot the young black men, but she was also mad at the young black men who are not acting right and taking responsibility for their own senseless acts of violence. It was chilling to hear this young person express these complex problems with such insight and clarity. It is easy to see that many of these young people will grow up to be great leaders and have a real impact on their community and beyond. I hope that this program will help give them the tools that they need to achieve their goals.
This week, we look forward to our closing session, facilitated by our fantastic and incredibly supportive partners, the Philadelphia Youth Commission. It will be sad to see this program end, but we are starting our series at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center next week. So even though we must close out our work with the Penn Treaty students, we will continue to expand this program and work with more young people to inspire, educate, and engage as many students as we can reach. As always, we thank all of our tremendous partners, for working with us on YEP and for all of the great work that they do every day to improve the lives of young Philadelphians all across the city.
Philly Rising Workshop Teaches Students to Shine at the Philly311 Youth Engagement Program
Philly Rising Youth Engagement Coordinator Alex Peay has a booming voice and immediately commands the room. Our session on Thursday, October 29th was smaller than other weeks due to an AVID awards ceremony that many of our participants were attending at the same time. But, the group we had was focused and very interested in the presentation and the activity that Alex had organized.
Alex opened by explaining what Philly Rising does and how it can help communities affect change. Then he began an ice breaker – the students had to line up in order of birth date without talking. This activity demonstrated how some people naturally want to lead the effort. He talked about leadership and how some students were inclined to take on a more active role trying to direct the group while others seemed to instinctively follow instructions.
After the ice breaker, Alex moved on to his presentation. He spoke to the children about self-branding and how even at their ages (11-18) people are already fitting them into an archetype. The way teachers deem you the class clown or neighbors know you to play music loudly at night for example. He explained that branding plays a significant role in the way that others view you, and what opportunities are available to you. We talked about celebrities, like Mike Vic, who had an extremely successful career until something completely unrelated to football, dog fighting, ruined his reputation and caused him to lose all of his contracts. He gave several other examples. He told the students that it is possible to change your brand, but it is important that you are consistent if you want people to know and respect your brand.
We also talked about the importance of networking. Alex defined networking for the students and he explained that everyone who comes through this program to talk to them can become part of their network. He then gave out his business cards and shared some of the nuances of networking, such as reaching out to people regularly to check in, not just when you need something. Alex used Michael Jordan as an example: “How many of you know who Michael Jordan is? Could you call him for a favor?” Alex asks. “Many people say, ‘It is not what you know, it’s who you know.’ I say, ‘It’s not who you know, but who knows you. Build your brand so people know you and think of you when opportunities arise.”
We closed the session with another exercise. The kids used pieces of paper as rocks and had to get everyone across the river (classroom floor) without touching the water/floor. It took several tries but in the end, the students realized that they had to plan ahead and work together to get everyone across the “river” and successfully complete the activity. It was really interesting to see them work through the process and assess through trial and error the best way to get across the river together.
It was really great to see how engaged the students were with Alex’s presentation. He caught their attention and talked about some important concepts in a way the youth could relate and understand.
The overall goal of the Philly311 Youth Engagement Program is to teach young people about local government and empower them to make a positive change in their community. By teaching them about leadership, branding, and networking we can empower them to take responsibility for themselves, and their neighborhood. Another major factor of our program is that we are humanizing government. Instead of government being some mysterious entity, we are showing students that government is run by people who are just like you. I think that by putting faces like Alex Peay and Joy Soto of the Youth Commission to City government we are really changing the way these students think about government. Hopefully, by meeting these different government employees and getting to know us, the students will be encouraged to work with local government and help make Philadelphia better for all of us.
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