REACH Youth Media Project goes to New Orleans
by Alphonso Ramirez
Woodland Coalition for Youth and KOLORS
Open Your Eyes: Teen Pregnancy. It started off as a project meant to help us with our already established teen group. Our goal was to simply create a well-organized documentary that would reveal and investigate a local issue and then use it as a tool to create awareness. We would have never thought that our documentary would reach such distance, especially anywhere beyond California … fortunately, we were wrong.
On Nov. 4 at midnight, bel Reyes from the UC Davis Center for Community School Partnerships and I boarded our plane that would take us to New Orleans, Louisiana. The next night, Lamar Heystek, the Woodland Coalition for Youth coordinator, and Kindra Montgomery-Block from UC Davis CCSP joined us. Our trip was to attend a national conference by the Coalition for Essential Schools called Changing Schools Changing Lives and to present the REACH Youth Media Project documentaries in the Youth Films Session. There, we showed two of our documentaries – Open Your Eyes: Teen Pregnancy by the Woodland Coalition for Youth (in partnership with KOLORS) and Lack of Role Models
by the Sacramento ACT Meadowview Partnership. The focus of the session was to present ways in which students could use media to make a change and to also show leadership. We were asked questions about the process and people were impressed to hear that it was a youth-led, adult-supported project. Lamar and I talked about how the documentary has been useful in our ongoing efforts in Woodland, and several people asked for DVDs of the documentaries.
What better way to show leadership and achievement than in a place that has thrived and remained successful. New Orleans – or should I say N'Awlins
– was truly an incredible experience! Everything about it was thrilling: the culture, the weather, the colors and the atmosphere. As we walked down the broken-down streets of the French Quarter, we came across beautiful buildings and art. No corner was silent; they were all filled with traditional jazz music. Not only was the atmosphere different, the food was absolutely unique! Blends of French cuisine and hot spices to create a meal consisting of jambalaya and beignets as dessert was a pleasant treat. New Orleans was an unforgettable experience that was not only enlightening, but also inspiring at every level!
Watch a video from the New Orleans trip and see all four REACH Youth Media Project documentaries.
Photo: On Canal Street are (left to right): Alphonso Ramirez, Lamar Heystek, bel Reyes and Kindra Montgomery-Block
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Vacaville, Yuba-Sutter coalitions receive REACH grants
After receiving planning grants through Sierra Health Foundation’s REACH program last year, youth and adults in Vacaville and the Yuba-Sutter area worked to find out what young people need and want to be safe, healthy and engaged in their communities. With results from their community assessments, they developed action plans and now will focus on making long-term positive changes for youth.
In continued support of this work, Sierra Health recently awarded each coalition a REACH Community Action grant of $450,000, which will be distributed over the next three years. With this grant – and a great deal of public support – the coalitions will make community-wide changes for youth to ensure they are safe and healthy, have positive relationships with caring adults, have meaningful opportunities to participate in the community and develop the skills they need to be successful.
The Vacaville Youth Roundtable REACH Coalition and the Youth Development Community Action Coalition of Yuba-Sutter are two of nine coalitions in the capital region to receive Community Action grants. Seven other REACH coalitions, which received three-year funding in 2007, are working in the communities of El Dorado Hills, Galt, Meadowview, Rancho Cordova, South Sacramento, West Sacramento and Woodland.
“Sierra Health is pleased to provide resources to help these two coalitions in their work to ensure young people are healthy and successful,” said Sierra Health Foundation President and CEO Chet Hewitt. “Ultimately, it isn’t the financial capital but the human capital – youth and adults working together – that will create the change they seek.”
Learn more about REACH Community Action grants on the REACH Web site.
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ESPINO Youth Summit focuses on “Changing the Odds”
Sierra Health Foundation was pleased to join Central Valley organizations to support the 2009 ESPINO Youth Empowerment Summit in Stockton on Oct. 16. With a theme of Changing the Odds, the summit brought together more than 400 young people, educators, youth service providers and youth organizers from throughout the Central Valley, the Bay Area and Southern California to build a stronger multicultural youth movement in the Central Valley.
The summit provided interactive workshops, such as Educational Equity, Juvenile Justice and Youth Organizing. Youth learned about the political process and how to organize around community issues, promote higher education and career planning, and create a stage for youth to share their stories about community challenges.
ESPINO is a Central Valley coalition that organizes for equal justice and education. Since 2003, ESPINO has addressed the schools-to-jail pipeline that many youth face in the Central Valley. The coalition also promotes access to education and alternatives to incarceration. Learn more about the coalition on the ESPINO Web site.
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El Dorado GABY grants available for youth-led projects
The El Dorado Grants Advisory Board for Youth (EDGABY) invites youth who want to make a difference in their community to apply for a youth-led grant up to $2,500. EDGABY is a youth-focused grant program that provides an opportunity for a board of youth stakeholders to award financial support for youth-led projects that benefit communities in El Dorado County. Grant applications are due by Jan. 5. Visit the EDGABY Web site for more information.
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Opportunities
The Corporation for National and Community Service has released a funding notice for its 2010 Learn and Serve America Summer of Service
grants competition. The new grant funding – totaling $1 million – will support five to seven innovative summer service-learning programs for students in grades six through nine. Participants in the Summer of Service must complete at least 100 hours of service through the summer program and are eligible to receive a $500 education award in return for their service that can be used to pay for post-secondary education expenses. Applications are due on Dec. 10. Get more information on the Learn and Serve America Web site.
The Grant High School Environmental Science Academy Class once again is offering an opportunity to support students and get a tasty gift at the same time! The students are selling holiday gift baskets, which are filled with salsa products and other goodies, to raise money for scholarships or an end-of-year educational field trip. Gift baskets come in three sizes and are priced from $18 to $32. To place an order, call (916) 337-8836 or send an e-mail.
Learn about the student-run business on the GEO Web site.
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CalendarDec. 16
Sacramento and Yolo GABY grant applications due
Get information on the GABY Web site.
Jan. 5
El Dorado GABY grant applications due
Information is on the EDGABY Web site.
Jan. 11
Youth Development Network will present Service Learning 101: Creating Strategies to Engage Youth in the Community. See the YDN Web site for information.
Feb. 2
Youth Development Network will present Service Learning 202: Taking the Next Steps with Service Learning. See the YDN Web site for information.
E-mail story ideas, funding opportunities, resources and calendar items to us at REACH.
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