The community school that I work at holds an activity night each friday for young women aged 13-24. It is a 10 week program free of charge that is supposed to target young female community members and try to get them involved and off of the streets staying out of trouble. The activities are supposed to include sports, open discussions about issues such as race, class gender, etc..., cooking, leadership development, music making, community building, and the list goes on.
When I saw the poster for this hanging up at work I was wowed. I thought this sounds amazing how do I get involved? So I went and talked to a friend of mine that has coordinated a number of things there and she said that youth night is essentially dead. People show up here and there. They sit around and talk and listen to the radio with the people that run the show.
Now there is nothing wrong with talking, people can hash out some good thoughts//feelings//ideas that way, but from what I understood this isn't really whats going on. For me this is truly disappointing because ICS has a huge portion of young people in the surrounding area. There are 3 or 4 large high schools within either walking or easy transit distance.
Why has nobody bothered to visit these high schools and talk (if even for 10 minutes) with some of the girls there to find out what they want in a youth program and recruit them to come out? Why is this girls night only advertised inside of ICS?
I firmly believe that many people can make a difference in their own way, but they are seldom ever given the tools or opportunity. In all honesty, until I got to university I had never even been told that I can be in control of my own life and the path that it takes. You don't have to want to change the world, or be the best athlete, or feel comfortable talking to people. Maybe there are females who want to learn to use their music skills to write a song. Maybe some want to try yoga. Maybe they want lessons in self defense.
It confuses me as to why the people running this program don't look at it and feel totally and completely embarrassed by the effort that they are putting in. I know most people will say, well its just a job, why should you do extra work for something like that? And yes, while I agree that its a job, this type of work is highly important and requires a certain level of passion. The facilitators have the opportunity to affect change positively. They can make the same wage with the city working many other jobs, and sit on their ass there. I am willing to volunteer my time for this cause AND try to completely and totally revamp.
Unfortunately, my CRP is on sick leave at the moment, but as soon as she returns, I will be all over her about how I can get into this program and help to make it what it could be. I mean whats the point of gender equity and female empowerment if not everyone has the opportunity to exercise their strengths?
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