Trinity Center for Neighborhoods, in conjunction with the Hartford-based community organization Create Change, is sponsoring the Youth Action Project (YAP). This project is designed to provide leadership development and training in community organizing to youth in middle school and high school. The project has two components: a direct action campaign and a media program.
The first campaign for YAP deals with proliferation of alcohol and tobacco advertising affecting children in urban neighborhoods. Children in neighborhoods of Hartford are bombarded by advertisements for alcohol and tobacco products in billboards, in front of grocery stores, and even on the ice cream freezers in local markets. The agenda for Create Change centers on rebuilding neighborhoods and communities and restoring and enhancing social capital, particularly in low-income communities of color. Create Change is attempting to address the ramifications of substance abuse in these communities and expand the dominant public policy strategy from one of simply arrest-incarceration to one that includes expanded treatment services and holistic re-entry programs.
The structure of the Youth Action Project involves Trinity College students who will act as mentors and coaches to the youth. Trinity students will be recruited by Men of Color Alliance (MOCA), a campus organization which has made this one their projects for the year. Students from Sociology 206: Organizing by Neighborhood will do internships with Create Change to implement the Youth Action Project. Three students doing independent study in the fall ’04 semester will be developing the film/media component and the training materials for the project.
The students have recruited several Hartford area youth-serving organizations as participants in the project. Each of these groups will send their youth to the training and will participate in the action campaign. The goal is not to form a new youth organization, but rather to enable the existing youth programs by offering leadership training and a community organizing experience to some of their youth.
The Direct Action Campaign
This program will focus on a community organizing approach to reduce the number and placement of alcohol and tobacco ads in urban neighborhoods. The campaign has the following elements:
1. Leadership training for the youth in the techniques of community organizing,
2. Conducting a survey of the alcohol and tobacco advertising in urban neighborhoods by participating youth,
3. Contacting store owners/managers for voluntary compliance in reducing the number and placement of ads,
4. Research into public policy solutions enacted by other communities faced with the same challenges.
The outcome of this aspect of the project will be a reduction in the number of alcohol and tobacco ads in urban neighborhoods and a restriction on the placement of these ads.
The Media Action Campaign
This aspect of the campaign will focus on creating Public Service Announcements (PSAs) dealing with youth use of alcohol and tobacco and an accompanying documentary of the campaign. Community groups, youth serving organizations and Create Change will use these tools to educate the community and to preserve the campaign for replication by other communities. Video material will also be available for use on websites. Trinfo Café will provide assistance to youth in creating a website and in preparing video presentations of their work.
Youth participating in the campaign can chose to work on either aspect of the campaign: direct action or media action.
The activities will take place during the fall and spring semesters of 2004-05. Several Trinity College students have been recruited. They will have a special meeting where the project will be outlined and the parameters of their involvement will be discussed. Their primary role is to serve as coaches and mentors for the youth. They will play a role in the youth training sessions.
The Hispanic Health Council in Hartford has expressed an interest in serving as a partner in this project. They will be providing assessment tools, survey instruments and training in the health aspects of alcohol and tobacco use. Over 40 youth involved in the Council’s After School Youth Initiative will participate in the Youth Action Project starting in January, 2005.
Endorsements:
Lt. Governor Kevin Sullivan
Councilwoman Elizabeth Horton Sheff
Councilman Robert Painter
Councilwoman Veronica Airey-Wilson
Mayor Eddie Perez
Representative Art Feltman
Representative Marie Kirkley-Bey
Louise Blalock (Hartford Public Library)
Hispanic Health Council
National Crime Prevention Council
MATCH Coalition
Participating Youth Agencies:
Aetna Center for Families
Aspira Hartford
Free to Grow
Hispanic Health Council
Match Coalition
Mi Casa
Windsor Youth Council