Imagine a City… where teens are valued and appreciated for who we are, no matter what! The community this project is helping is every citizen, visitor, and friend of the City of Alexandria. Through the project, we have three main goals that will affect every Alexandrian. First, the Spectrum of Conversations, or roundtable discussions, will be and open, honest, and comfortable environment where teens will be able to express our true feelings, emotions, and experiences in a setting designed to facilitate change and understanding. Second, these series of discussions will promote equity within the teens living in the City, and will enable us to share a common bond that will exist throughout our lives. Finally, the city will benefit from a series of student led poster and postcard campaigns, which will increase everyone's awareness and understanding of youth from diverse backgrounds, cultures, needs, and orientations. The problem that we are trying to tackle in one of indifference. We want to show our entire community that youth can come together, work together, and lead together to find a common bond and goal that we can call their own. Through the discussions, the main workshop event, and the distribution of the the posters and postcards, teens will undeniably come together and find friends and life stories they would have otherwise never known. These unified voices for unity will be able to stand together, and let all of Alexandria know what we stand for, where we come from, and why we are valued.

The project is designed for all of the teens living in Alexandria to learn and experience self-expression, relatedness, compassion, and unity among other teens from diverse cultures, races, and ethnicities. In the coming days and weeks, the roundtable Spectrum of Conversations will be assembled and begin their conversations and meeting. A main event with professional artists and workshops for the city will take place. And finally, the posters and postcards will be distributed for the entire city to admire. Through these series of goals and meeting led and established by the teens of the City, we will be able to address every single stereotype surrounding different races and teenagers, and prove that "we are more than what they see" and can show the community and beyond what we are truly capable of.

Youth Voices for Unity brings together students in grades 9-12 to share our life experiences, artistic talents and verbal skills to create a city-wide poster and postcard campaign. The campaign will highlight the cultural composition and heritage of teens in Alexandria and show how "we are more than what people see." Youth Voices for Unity will promote equity for all teens and engage youth in a respectful, honest dialogue with exchange of ideas. Youth Voices for Unity will give the Alexandria Community a chance to have an increased understanding and appreciation of our diverse youth. In order to create the Youth Voices for Unity Study Circles, a steering committee has been put together with youth from the city, and representatives from the Department of Human Services and the City Public Schools. This committee is comprised of 50% youth from public and private schools and 50% of adults that work closely with youth everyday. In addition, planning has gone into intense facilitator training, media and public promotion, and organization of the final poster and postcard campaign. This is just our first step in assembling the Youth Voices for Unity project.

Come to the Youth Voices for Unity Information Open House on Monday, July 21, 2008, 6-7 p.m. , at 2525 Mt. Vernon Ave. (Dept of Human Services) Alexandria, VA 22301 Questions? Call 703.838.0709 or 703.824.6639 or email karen.parker.thompson@acps.k12.va.us, bhackenson@gmail.com or joann.maldonado@alexandriava.gov