CONFRONTING CONCERNS YEAR TWO Confronting Concerns Program is an empowerment program for youth in which they: name concerns for themselves, their neighborhood and the world and create action for change. Interviewing one another Exploring their concerns Preparing for action

OUR VISION FOR YOUTH Engaged, hopeful, positive teenagers concerned for human rights and the common good who have change making leadership skills and who can listen to others and articulate what is important for themselves.

MAJOR OUTCOMES One hundred youth were interviewed regarding their concerns for themselves, their families and the world. Their major concerns: Violence Health and environment Drugs and effects on people Negative aspects of sex Racism

THE INTERVIEWS St Ambrose All Saints

Youth Leadership Team counted and charted the responses from the 100 interviews Counting and organizing responses by subject Continuing to categorize Planning the first session Categorizing the responses

What are your concerns for yourself, your neighborhood and for the world? CHARTING THE CONCERNS

What do you think are the concerns of other kids your age?

What do you think are the concerns of children in other parts of the world?

What do you think should be done to address young people’s concerns?

Ten Harlem youth named similarities and differences among youth in Harlem and youth in other parts of the world. In two groups they created a RAP song and a poster regarding these insights and presented and discussed their insights from one group to another. SESSION ONE Presenting the concerns of youth Preparing a RAP on Poverty Dialogue about Poverty Presenting Poverty in USA Poverty in Sudan

SESSION TWO Ten youth named and presented at least two of the causes, effects and solutions of the five major concerns they had identified

VIOLENCE It is a bad example for young people. CAUSE It hurts people. Television and radio motivates people to act violent including sexual abuse and gang violence. Kids watching television imitate people they admire. EFFECT his issue affect young people because most of their family members are being killed. SOLUTION Be the bigger person by walking away from the situation. Resolve problems without violence. More police in neighborhoods would equal fewer troublemakers. We can take action and speak out against violence on the television and radio.

People who use drugs and sell drugs are harming the environment. HEALTH/ENVIRONMENT People are polluting the environment and their bodies with chemicals and drugs. To stop this we can enforce laws to prevent young people from using drugs. There should be less global warming and more supportive people to help protect the environment. People should be more cautious to the things that they do to harm the environment. To help the situation people can stop littering and start recycling. People are being affected by air pollution and contaminated water in certain parts of the world. We can put people who use drugs in rehab to help them stop.

DRUGS People are pressured to support drug dealers by using and selling drugs. Many who involved in drugs drop out of school. Drugs led to death. Drugs make people do dumb things. Older people are buying cigarettes and selling them to underage children which can cause their death at a young age. Less drug dealers and more supportive neighbors are needed to clean up the streets. In order to prevent the youth from being involved in drugs, we can have a documentary about what happens when you use drugs. We can also help drug users get into rehab and try to turn them to God.

SEX Having sex can cause teen pregnancy. Having sex can cause HIV and AIDS. Using protection is important to prevent teen pregnancy, AIDS, and HIV. Avoid peer pressure. Work to develop your own mind. Find ways to create comfort in a relationship besides having sex. There should be more activities for young teens so their minds would be to busy to even think about sex.

RACISM It hurts people feelings. Racism affects young people because children are being segregated and teased because they are from a different race. This affects people today because of what they hear and learn from the people who are raising them. This affect them by making the ashamed of their race, sex, etc. Everybody should just get along and live as a big happy family.

SESSION THREE All the participants identified three leadership qualities that they personally have and came up with several causes of drug and sexual abuse.

WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS

ADULTS WHO HELPED!