Participating Organizations

Boston Asian: Youth Essential Service
http://bostonasianyes.org

CfC Team:
Artist: Tory Bullock
Youth worker: Susanna Cheung
OST representative: Armanda Trinh Britton

Project description:
Through poetry/spoken word and theatre activities, youth were empowered to speak out against injustice.
Participating teens addressed issues related to poverty, making healthy choices, pursuing dreams, and seeking justice in their own environment. The project offered teens a new way of communicating and of learning that they have a power to affect social change.

Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center
www.bcnc.net

CfC Team:
Artist: Tri Quach
Youth worker: Vicky Yue
OST representative: Giles Li / Sophia Kim

Project description:
Youth in this program created stories about their interpretation of what food means in their lives. Through this exploration, the project addressed issues related to public speaking, racism and class divisions.
With the guidance of the youth worker and artist, they learned critical thinking skills as well as technical video making skills. The videos they created showed the range of Asian American youth experiences and expressions, and were shared with families and the community in a celebration event.

Greater Boston Nazarene and Compassionate Center
 www.dcncc.org

 

CfC Team:
Artists: Robert Wyckoff, Anna Florencia Gonzalez Delgado
Youth worker: David Jenkins
OST representative: Dr. Ricardo Telemaque & Rev. Pierre Louis Zephir

Project description:
Youth participants learned trumpet and saxophone, wrote spoken word poetry and rap, and used these art forms to impact the issue of youth violence in their lives.
The project built on participants’ knowledge and experience of the issue by incorporating discussion activities, analysis of the causes and effects of youth violence, and research into the solutions to youth violence. Participants shared their performances with community and congregation members.

Bird Street Community Center sponsored by GOTCHA
www.birdstreet.org 

CfC Team:
Artist: Dara Cheek
Youth worker:  Matt Selines
OST representative: Andrea Kaiser

Project description:
Participating youth created poetry around social issues, and developed a stained glass installation incorporating all components of the project.
A team on youth conducted a series of focus groups in various neighborhoods addressing issues related to media, violence, poverty, education for young people, and mental health needs. These conversations served as inspiration to the creation of poetry and sculpture.

Maverick Landing Community Services, Inc.

CfC Team:
Artist: John Keys
Youth worker: Ana Santana
OST representative: Jude James

Project description:
Youth explored the meaning of home by creating drawings and writing poetry around the topic.
The social justice issue addressed by this project was home and homelessness including topics of who gets to live where, how housing is distributed, how homes are built and maintained, environmental issues related to housing, and questions of urban density through research, exploration of different neighborhoods, speakers and presentations from housing advocates, architects, and designers. Participants had the opportunity to present their works at the East Boston Social Justice Day.

Hawthorne Youth and Community Center, Inc. (HYCC)
www.bc.edu/schools/cas/pulse/placements/hawthorne.html

CfC Team:
Artist: Dianne Zimbabwe
Youth worker: Allentza Michel
OST representative: Samantha Sadd

Project description:
Teens created wearable art based on an analysis of social justice issues related to the fashion industry, like sweatshop labor, human cost of producing brand name goods, and ways the media influences “what’s hot” in fashion, style, body type, and models.
The Fashion Flair project focused on discussion, images from popular culture, and dialogue to be more aware of the underside of the fashion industry. Youth, participated in field trips and planned a final celebration to share their creations with their families and community members.

MissionSAFE
www.missionsafe.org

CfC Team:
Artist: Kartina Richardson/Deborah Kronenberg
Youth worker: Dwan Billingslea
OST representative: Kim Molle

Project description:
Through acting and character building, this project focused on teaching youth how various playwrights have addressed issues related to the human condition and social justice.
Activities were designed to help youth feel comfortable in a theatre setting, to help them foster a love of the arts, and to help them gain confidence and skills in public speaking, acting, interacting with people, memorizing and analyzing a text.

Project HIP-HOP
www.projecthiphop.org

CfC Team:
Artist: Denise “Fareye” Williams
Youth worker: Martin Kelly/Emily Ullman
OST representative: Mariama White-Hammond

Project description:
Teens used local oral histories to develop a narrative play with monologues for multiple characters on the theme of intergenerational issues in the city of Boston.

Sociedad Latina
www.sociedadlatina.org

CfC Team:
Artist: Robert Edinger    
Youth worker: Hernando Buitrago
OST representative: Nicole d’Avis

Project description:
Youth composed songs and wrote spoken word pieces around CORI reform and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The project explored issues related to the actual legislation employing people with a CORI record and the number of minority soldiers fighting and dying in the wars. Participants received basic instrumental instruction and had an opportunity for artistic exploration, discussion of community issues, and the creation of art and music responsive to the topics explored. The works created were presented at a culminating performance in which families and community members attended.

St. Stephen’s Youth Program
www.ststephensbos.org/youthprograms.html

CfC Team:
Artist: Will Whelan
Youth worker: Kerrie Chandler
OST representative: Liz Steinhauser

Project description:
Participating teens used the 2008 presidential campaign to write poetry, create a collage and record a video that expressed their views on social justice issues related to media influence and media control and their reactions to it.
Teens addressed these issues through group conversations, observing and analyzing media, reading magazines and newspapers, and investigating campaign websites. The activities were recorded and edited into a short video that expressed the teens’ views on media influence.