Champions of Change

Champions of Change Blog

  • Strong Communities Build Strong Futures

    Posted by Andrea Perry on April 4, 2012 at 11:57 AM EDT

    We’ve heard it said a million times that children are the future. Yet with violence resulting in incarceration, severe disability or death for thousands of young people each year, these idealized futures can be over before they begin. Sometimes, it seems, we skip a step by not realizing that the future is only possible if we focus on the present. What does it say about the overall health and prosperity of our communities if we don’t maximize and leverage all of our resources to help the most vulnerable members of our society – our children? How do we tolerate even one youth homicide in our neighborhoods? How do we not ensure that every young person feels safe at night?

    I am excited to live in a city that appreciates young people; a city that recognizes the positive impact youth can have on quality of life for everyone. This commitment to children is one of the reasons I was interested in working and living in Boston. Here I have the ability to use my social work background to advocate for social justice at all levels, while working to address the unique needs of each young person that I have the privilege to serve. 

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  • Equipping Youth with Knowledge

    Posted by Marlon T. Foster on April 4, 2012 at 11:56 AM EDT

    WOW! What an amazing journey thus far. I have been living a life I truly love. My life is so exciting for it includes being leader of an awesome organization, Knowledge Quest (KQ). Over the last fifteen years, I have noticed numerous “quests;” from NailQuest to UtiliQuest to LaserQuest! But in the end, there is only one “quest” located in my heart and that’s Knowledge Quest. The one situated in a culturally rich, urban pocket of South Memphis. It is the one born out of a praying heart and a soul searching for purpose after tragedy. It is the one whose program model was formulated out of my past experiences as a wayward inner city teenager who lost his best friend due to youth gun violence. It is the one that was nurtured on the rugged terrain of the Fowler Homes Public Housing Development. It is the one headquartered in that same neighborhood—the one I grew up in—the same one where I live, work and worship in to this day.

    According to zip code data, it is a community filled with challenges; but, from my vantage point, it is a community filled with opportunity. It is most evident in the hopes and dreams located in the bright eyes of the children I encounter everyday. These are the students served by our Knowledge Quest. Over the years I have watched many fractured-winged eagles soar. Our credentialed educators continue to instill the power of knowledge. They have been energized with a vision… “to transform lives by expanding minds”… and equipped with a mission… “to vigorously equip youth to maximize their potential through intellectual and character development” -- and effective they have been. We have watched students’ grades ‘hockey stick’ up as many as four letter grades. We have been humbled by tearful-eyed parents thanking us because their children “can now read.” We have celebrated over pizza with youth whose behavior was formerly labeled as “anti-social” who are now members of Foster’s Finest—a cherished group of achievers who attain perfect attendance and exhibit positive behavior. These are the priceless experiences, too numerous to count, and in response to which, I can only say…WOW!

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  • The Nexus of Art, Community and Education

    Posted by Monica Haslip on April 4, 2012 at 11:42 AM EDT

    For the past 18 years, I have had the distinct pleasure of serving some of our nation’s most inspiring and vulnerable youth.  I am often encouraged and amazed by the extraordinary determination and resilience of our country’s most at-risk population.  It is with great pride and humility that I accept the honor of being chosen as a Youth Violence Prevention White House "Champion of Change."

    My personal journey serving vulnerable youth began in 1994.  I founded a community based organization, the Little Black Pearl Workshop (LBP).  The organization was based on the notion that “art…like everything else in the community, must respond positively to the reality and needs of the community.”  Art is an effective part of the machinery in communities that moves us to change quickly and creatively.  Utilizing art as a tool in the battle we are waging against youth violence is an effective instrument for creating voice and captivating the minds and hearts of our children.

     

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  • Gen Y Claiming the Future

    Posted by Fernanda Ocana on April 4, 2012 at 11:41 AM EDT

    Growing up in a community where the majority of the youth are not expected to succeed, I knew that I had to do something to make a difference. I was unsure of how or when I could make a difference in my community until I was introduced to Girls Inc. of the Central Coast. Girls Inc. helped me develop a new perspective, and my involvement started with projects such as Building Healthy Communities (BHC) for East Salinas and Community Alliance for Safety and Peace (CASP).

    As a Girls Inc. youth leader in 2009, I was given the opportunity to work with high school girls in an after-school program. I conducted meetings to help the girls learn about: staying healthly, their educational opportunities, leadership and combatting peer pressure. After doing the high school program, I started working with both elementary and middle school programs for Girls Inc. In 2010, I became the program coordinator and supervised new youth leaders who facilitated program activities for the young girls. It was through Girls Inc. that I learned to be a good teacher, leader and motivator, and I had the opportunity to work with other young leaders. Not only did we as youth leaders facilitate the meetings, but we often went to community events where we volunteered and made sure the people from our community were getting involved.

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  • Creating A Better World Within Our Communities Through Revitalization

    Posted by Keith Norman on April 4, 2012 at 11:25 AM EDT

    The circumstances of our closest and nearest surroundings will have a tremendous impact on the long range hope and belief that we can and will succeed. These are the thoughts that I reflect upon daily as I drive through the community of Binghampton in Memphis, Tennessee. If our children and families always see blighted communities and hopeless surroundings, I believe it has a tendency to reproduce a spirit of hopelessness – which lends itself to a vicious cycle of generational poverty and violence. Having faced such surroundings from my own childhood, it was not until I escaped from my "immediate surroundings" by way of a school field trip that my world was forever changed. I began to see that there was a better world with better opportunities and if I would work hard and stay away from violence, I could access these opportunities and eventually help others to share in them too.

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  • A Model for Tomorrow: Empowering Successful Students and Productive Communities

    Posted by Nita Gonzales on March 29, 2012 at 12:23 PM EDT

    Quoted in a Denver Post article, Nita Gonzales "was raised to work for a more just and humane world, to embrace my culture, language, and historical identity, to act in a principled and honorable way."

    As a long time activist for Raza human rights, which included participation in Crusade for Justice, a Chicano/Mexicano civil rights organization started by my father, activist and community leader Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales, I have come to realize change comes through the power of people willing to stand for justice . Since the mid-eighties, I have been the President/CEO of Escuela Tlatelolco Centro de Estudios. A private community school in northwest Denver, Escuela Tlatelolco caters to Chicano/Mexicano students through a foundation of cultural pride and self-esteem, so "these young people [can] obtain an education that [will] help them go on to become successful adults who would benefit the community in return."

    Concerned that Chicano and Mexicano students were consistently lagging behind other students in the public school system, Corky Gonzales with the collaboration of other Crusade parent activists sought to create an educational model that promoted academic excellence and achievement, instilled cultural pride and inspired students to become leaders in their community.

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