Project Description

Help kids with their writing, creativity and English skills.

Project Description

Turning Point Youth Collective is a non-profit youth organization in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Our mission:
To provide the Daytona Beach area with resources and space for producing all-ages music events and creating music related cultural products; empowering youth through alternative leadership development opportunities including a youth-directed model encouraging leadership through open governance practices and erasing the line between the people serving and being served; to actively improve the social well-being of Daytona Beach area youth through civic engagement.

We have been in our planning stages since Jan 2006 and faced some difficulty in remaining after the original organizer moved out of state to continue his college career at Amherst in Boston, MA. Around that same time a new organizer picked up where he left off and January 2008 saw an active start to the collective.

Focusing on all-ages music events, youth empowerment, and civic engagement, Turning Point Youth Collective has already gained wide support from youth, community members in the arts, civic leaders, other local non-profit and grass-root organizations, and businesses alike.

Our first large scale event to introduce ourselves to the community will be Saturday June 7, 2008. "Endless Summer Fest" is an all day, all-ages, all local, free, community and arts event, organized largely in part for and by youth ages 16-25--the first of its kind in the area!

There are 20 confirmed music acts, 10 artists, and a number of skill shares, including a pottery wheel demonstration, and sewing workshop.

The opportunity to not only give back in such a fun and positive way to our community and its youth, but also to provide future leadership and creative opportunities for the youth in this area, combined with a love for the arts is the driving force behind our organization.

Project Description

On Tuesday, April 15 and Thursday, April 24, members of College Forward’s Student Leadership Council (SLC) at Lehman High School and Georgetown High School will lead groups of their peers in an afternoon of service at their respective schools. Participants will create craft kits, care packages and cards for patients at the nearby Dell Children’s Hospital.

Project Description

YOUTH MUSIC EXCHANGE

An Emergent Solution

At the Youth Music Exchange (YME), http://youthmusicexchange.org, when one is in the search for solutions, one could ask: “What would entice children to come to school and strive for success…even if they weren’t required to show up?” The question is not entirely hypothetical; in fact, after-school practitioners wrestle with this conundrum every day. After-school education is founded upon a paradox—that is, learning is mandatory but attendance is not. Interestingly, after-school youth developers have unearthed an emergent solution to the above question in youth media. By engaging children in the creation and production of film, radio, websites, and other media, after-school programs are helping urban youths build innovative pathways to academic and social skills.

Our Mission

The Youth Music Exchange (YME) is a literacy, technology, and youth development initiative that puts learning into its social contexts in unprecedented ways. YME transforms schools, after-school programs, and community-based organizations into record labels owned and managed by youths. The children write and record the music, develop marketing strategies, design the artwork, create a business plan, and sustain their company by bringing a youth-generated product to the community in which it was created. Founded and directed by Dr. Michael Bitz, an arts educator, and Dr. Bill McKinney, an urban anthropologist, YME puts not only media but also the media network into the hands of children, thereby reinforcing academic learning, social development, and life skills—all of which are necessary for success in the modern world.

Objectives

YME has five separate but closely related objectives.

1) Academic Reinforcement: Children become better readers, writers, and mathematicians by engaging in an intensive process leading to a youth-generated product.

2) Technological Literacy: Children learn about and harness hardware, software, and web applications in the development of their own companies, which improves their success in school, after school, and in life.

3) Career Pathways: Children develop career skills by gaining experience in business, marketing, and production, as well as participating in internships focused on job readiness.

4) Social and Character Development: Children develop social skills related to conflict resolution, problem solving, and teamwork, along with enhanced concepts of cultural tolerance and personal identity.

5) Community Building: Children positively impact their communities through the distribution of sustainable, youth-generated products and community-based performances.

Target Population

YME is targeted at the improvement of the lives of underserved youths (ages 9-18) in high-poverty communities of the United States. The geographical base and focus for our first two years is New York City. We plan to expand to other urban areas within the first five years of implementation.

For more information, contact Dr. Michael Bitz, Ed.D. at .

Project Description

Light spinning, mainly Poi, is a growing activity throughout the world. However, many in the U.S. have still never heard of it. Poi are basically cords with a weighted end, or glowing object. They are spun around the body in intricate forms and patterns. For performances the ends are sometimes lit with fire, but now L.E.D. lights create a fantastic and safe display.

Poi spinning is like a sport, because practice and dedication are necessary. On the other hand it's a creative art form like dance that requires coordination and rhythm.
It interests all sorts of people, young and old. However as it's a noncompetitive, open to all, it may especially appeal to youth who enjoy unique noncomforming hobbies.

My proposal is to establish a local group of people who regularly come to share skills and support each other.This group would then do performances at local events. Performing gives positive recognition and recruits new members.

Project Description

The Archive Institute Poster Competition 2007 is a project that places children at the forefront of the campaign against HIV/AIDS. In response to the UNICEF’s call to action, we are seeking to unite the efforts of children around the world against the destructive pandemic of HIV/AIDS.

Express your imagination and creativity to us through artwork! The 2007 ARCHIVE Institute poster competition calls for poster designs from young artists under the age of 18 who want to help bring increased attention to the widespread AIDS epidemic. We expect submissions as diverse as the impact of the virus on individual and community lives. The theme for the competition focuses on the relationships between HIV/AIDS, “the home”, housing and/or communities. Winners from six regions will be identified accordingly. The competition will be launched during the summer of 2007 and winning entries will receive recognition in the January 2008.

The entries for this competition are important as both an archival record and an educational tool. Participants will have a chance to record how HIV/AIDS affects their surroundings. The posters resulting from the competition will represent how the disease affects young people and their environments around the world. A traveling exhibition will help to raise awareness of this and hopefully inspire others to get involved in the helping to stop the epidemic.

Here are some questions you might want to use as a guide for your poster submission artwork. Keep in mind that you may use these questions as inspiration or raise your own concerns about these themes.

●Where does AIDS come from and how can humans overcome it? Who will inherit the AIDS problem? How can we best respond to the spread of HIV and AIDS? How does AIDS affect our society?

●How can we educate people about AIDS and communicate with them about the epidemic? How can we use technology to alleviate the global problem of AIDS?

●What are some of the lessons we have learned from the spread of the AIDS epidemic? What do communities/villages affected by AIDS need most? Who should be in charge of relieving the AIDS problem?

What are some of the ways in which our homes and housing in general are affected by the disease? How can our homes and housing in general help treat or help control the spread of HIV/AIDS?

Project Description

My project started when my band was rehearsing one evening: As usual, all of my friends came to my warehouse I rented to hear the band play. We called this little haven the "Shed Shed"; It was a safe place for my friends to be after school and a good place to have a jam room. After this particular practice, my friend Alexis asked if I could teach her how to play the drums. I taught her the basics and sure enough, she was a natural. I told her [jokingly] that if she kept up playing like that, she'd end up replacing me in the band. I never had seen her smile that big. I felt really good inside that night, and I realized that she had never known that she had a talent for the drums. I began to wonder how many people have talent, but just don't have the time or equipment to try new things. Within that week I put up fliers around the school advertising the Shred Shed. We were already a fairly well known band, and my campaign pushed into popularity. Sure enough, more and more people started to come to the Shred Shed not only to hear music, but to explore their own creativity. I provide free lessons and we always let someone stand in for a song or two. Being in the school drum line and in theatre arts, I never knew how many kids never picked a drum sticks up or expressed themselves. It's been about a nine months since I started this project, and I feel a sense of achievement knowing that I not only helped my piers explore their creativity, but provided a safe spot for us to be ourself and escape the stresses of school or social problems. Everybody seemed to belong and fit in at Shred Shed. Even though we started as just a small band, I feel like we have been creating something very special within the community. Every month, we pay the rent for the warehouse, and lately money has been scarce. We might have to close the Shred Shed if money doesn't come soon.

Abe Van Vleck

Project Description

"Expressions: A Therapeutic Medium for Breaking the Silence" is a literary magazine created, organized, designed, and published by Students Against Silence (SAS), a Columbia University organization dedicated to preventing suicide and raising awareness about mental health related issues in the Columbia community. One of our club’s first orders of business for the spring semester was to create this magazine, or what we like to call a "medium for breaking the silence." In an American culture that promotes internal strength, or at least the outward appearance of it, mental illness and particularly suicide are viewed as personal weaknesses, taboo subjects not to be mentioned in polite society. However, suicide is the third leading cause of death for young adults between 15 and 24 years of age, and a staggering 90% of suicide victims have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their deaths. Another point of interest is that science has proven that creative individuals, or artists, are disproportionately prone to depression and suicidal tendencies. Everyone in a university setting is brilliant and creative in his or her own way, so it is only natural that the university should be the place where mental health is fostered and issues are dealt with in an open environment. Yet historically, it hasn't been. That's why we channeled all of our resources into creating this first annual literary magazine. It is a way for students and other members of the community to voice their experiences relating to mental health in a medium that is best suited to their individual talents. Poetry, essays, drawings, meaningful quotes, and photographs were all featured in Expressions. We designed and published fliers and posters to promote the magazine, collected submissions, designed the cover and layout of the magazine, and had it published; it was an entire group effort that made our success possible. We began promoting the magazine and asking for submissions in January, and by early May, we distributed 500 copies of our finished product to dorms all across campus, just in time for the most stressful week of the year--finals! We received numerous compliments on our project, but the most gratifying reward was seeing many of the talented individuals who contributed to the magazine actually become members of our club. We plan to publish Expressions each year, and we will continue to work towards our goal of making our university and our community and mentally healthy and happy place to be.