My Vision
In my experience working with a group of youth from under-served communities who were frequently bullied due to their ethnicity and religiously-mandated uniform, I found that facilitating workshops for them on anti-bullying made them more “aware” and “educated” on bullying and how to tackle it, but turning them in to facilitators of anti-bullying workshops themselves caused a transformation…it empowered them. In that same light, my vision to address youth poverty in Jonestown is to “empower through service” – to design and implement service projects for youth living in poverty. This would involve building a network of local charities in and around Jonestown that need young volunteers and pairing them with youth groups that are formally organized or informally organized (from schools to church youth groups) in Jonestown who are ready to serve. Programs won’t be solely based around an event, but instead it will be a 2-3 month process of identifying a social problem in the community, coordinating with local charities to find ways to address them, designing a plan to implement the solution, and program execution.
One might ask, why would the needy be interested in helping the needy? And how does that help toward alleviating youth poverty?
I admit that it is a risk. I am making an assumption that there are children that would be interested in helping others despite their own difficult circumstances. And if I meet challenges, I may need to start with youth groups that are slightly more organized or work with organizations like churches or synagogues where service is already part of the mission. I feel strongly about this approach, because if successful, it provides a series of results and skills that youth living in poverty rarely experience:
All of these are critical life skills that make individuals better students, better workers, and better citizens. I am convinced through exposing youth in poverty to such a radically different paradigm to problem solving, it will give them perspective to challenge the cycle of poverty and an opportunity to realize their full potential.
The beauty of this model is the starting costs are low. By leveraging charities and youth groups that are already in place, it is primarily legwork that is needed to put it all together. And rather than build an actual institution, my recommendation would be to create 2-3 catalyst projects to generate interest in the concept, see if the idea floats, and takeaway some key leanings to turn it into more of a long-term program.
Here are some examples of partners for potential catalyst projects:
Building a playground with Kaboom (www.kaboom.org)
One might ask, why would the needy be interested in helping the needy? And how does that help toward alleviating youth poverty?
I admit that it is a risk. I am making an assumption that there are children that would be interested in helping others despite their own difficult circumstances. And if I meet challenges, I may need to start with youth groups that are slightly more organized or work with organizations like churches or synagogues where service is already part of the mission. I feel strongly about this approach, because if successful, it provides a series of results and skills that youth living in poverty rarely experience:
- An appreciation for what you already have
- The innate feeling of happiness and positivity from helping another human being
- The identification, planning, and pursuit a goal
- Problem solving; the juggling of priorities and multi-tasking
- Delayed gratification; working toward a goal that takes time to realize
All of these are critical life skills that make individuals better students, better workers, and better citizens. I am convinced through exposing youth in poverty to such a radically different paradigm to problem solving, it will give them perspective to challenge the cycle of poverty and an opportunity to realize their full potential.
The beauty of this model is the starting costs are low. By leveraging charities and youth groups that are already in place, it is primarily legwork that is needed to put it all together. And rather than build an actual institution, my recommendation would be to create 2-3 catalyst projects to generate interest in the concept, see if the idea floats, and takeaway some key leanings to turn it into more of a long-term program.
Here are some examples of partners for potential catalyst projects:
Building a playground with Kaboom (www.kaboom.org)
Or organizing a food packaging event with a local Kid's Against Hunger chapter
For more details on the "Empower through Service" model and my vision for Jonestown, please read my business integration analysis
business_integration_project_bu_152.740.81_citylab_rpsingh_final.pdf | |
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