SWOP

The entire 4-part video series documenting the People's Freedom Caravan is now available for viewing. The video project was a collaboration between SWOP and KUNM Youth Radio to document the experience of the young people on the Caravan bound for the 2010 U.S. Social Forum in Detroit, MI. The caravan stopped to learn about different communities and their struggles along the way. The videos outline some of their experiences in those different cities.





To see more videos from this project click here or here, or visit KUNM Youth Radio's Youtube page.

President Obama's "America's Great Outdoors Initiative" came through Albuquerque this weekend as part of the effort to get public input on a conservation agenda for the country, largely focused on "reconnecting Americans with the outdoors." Federal officials including U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and under secretary for the Natural Resources and the Environment in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Harris Sherman spoke with community members, including SWOP's own community garden coordinator, Travis McKenzie. Travis' comments were highlighted in an Albuquerque Journal article:
"Really, I think it's education," said Travis McKenzie, 23, whose community involvement includes being gardening coordinator for the SouthWest Organizing Project. "We need more service-learning-based curriculum, where people can learn about nature."

Earlier in the session, McKenzie mentioned that some urban residents have challenges "even getting into nature."

In the end, McKenzie talked about shoring up funding for programs, organizations and school efforts that already exist and allow young people to learn about nature.
Community members like Travis have already taken up the effort to get people involved in nature, agriculture and how it can connect them with where they live. Hopefully the government will take lessons from people like Travis and create a conservation agenda that benefits people and communities.

The 1st Annual Pink Run will be held this Saturday, July 24th. The run is in memory of John Anczarski, a student from Colorado who was killed while cycling through the Laguna Pueblo on a trek to raise money and awareness in the fight against breast cancer. Proceeds from the 5k run/walk and 10k run event will go to the Susan G. Komen fund and help 9 Laguna students travel to Pennsylvania to perform community service in honor of John. One of the students, Latishia, is a COIN intern here at SWOP. She is hopeful that proceeds from the event will help further the work of her Laguna youth group.

WHAT: 1st Annual Pink Run
WHERE: Mesita Recreation Hall, Exit 117 West from Albuquerque, East from Grants
WHEN: Saturday, July 24th Registration 7 AM- 8 AM, Walk/run will begin at 8:05 AM

The entry fee will be a donation of your choosing. One dollar will get you a bandana while twenty-five dollars gets you a t-shirt, waterbottle and key chain.

For more info. contact: POL Sports & Wellness - Mandy Begay @ (505) 552-7243
POL Fitness Center - Jennifer Weeker @ (505) 552-6889
Geoff Kie @ (505) 934-2933

Join the Youth Health Ambassadors of the Albuquerque YBHC program in their research.

This Thursday we need adults to participate in a focus group to help answer our research question:
How can we build a healthier sense of community in
low-income communities of color, while educating
youth on important health issues, such as limited sex
education and high drop-out rates?

The Youth Health Ambassadors have already held a focus group for young people, now it's time to get input from adults. If you're interested in helping the Ambassadors develop solutions and messages around issues of community health, please come by the SWOP offices for a little while and participate in this focus group.

Adult (ages 24+) focus group:
July, 22 @ 5pm

SWOP Youth Office
211 10th St.
Albuquerque, NM 87102

For more info. Contact:
Tracy: Tracy@youthnoise.org, 505-315-7900
Or
Aurea: chipinajinx@yahoo.com 505-301-5832

Youth Building Healthy Communities is a project of Youth Noise that develops youth to use media as a tool to create healthy communities. Youth bloggers in Oakland, Detroit and Albuquerque are participating in the project.

Hola SWOPistas and Happy Summer!!

You’re Invited…SWOP’s $5 Friday Tardeada!

When: This Friday, July 23rd; 5pm-7pm
Where: SWOP’s Main Office, 211 10th St SW (1.5 blocks south of 10th and Central)
What: Frito Pies, and meet our friends and allies from San Antonio and Mississippi (South by Southwest in the house!)

Join us as we celebrate come together with our friends from Southwest Workers Union and Southern Echo and enjoy good food on a summer evening. It will be potluck style and you’re welcome to bring a dessert or appetizer. SWOP will be providing the main course of frito pies. If you’re interested in bringing a side dish, please contact Marisol at (505) 247-8832 or by email at marisol@swop.net. We look forward to seeing you there!

Check out this narrative from The Story of Stuff Project. The recent US Social Forum in Detroit banned bottled water on site for good reasons, some of which are outlined in this video.



One thing that this video does not state explicitly is that bottled water represents just one more attempt to privatize public resources and their delivery. This is done in the name of greater efficiency and savings, but the effect is to remove such resources from our ownership and such services from our control - and also to increase the price and turn water into a highly profitable commodity. So think of the privatization of water the way you would the privatization of trash collection and waste management, or police and fire protection and ask the question: who pays and who benefits? Directly related to this, while public drinking water is regulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency and thousands of EPA inspectors, commercial bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, which has little capacity to monitor quality. So, as the video does point out, you never really know about the quality of the bottled water that you drink.

Members of the People's Freedom Caravan to the U.S. Social Forum were part of a roundtable discussion for KUNM Youth Radio last night. Head over to the KUNM archives and search for programming on Sunday, July 11 from 7 PM to 8 PM. The audio will be available for two weeks.

The youth delegates' reflections on the Caravan are quite moving- do yourself a favor and check it out.

KUNM Youth Radio has posted videos from the People's Freedom Caravan and the road to the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit on their YouTube page. The Caravan left Albuquerque on June 18th and made stops in Ponca City, St. Louis, Louisville and Chicago before arriving in Detroit. The Caravan engaged with local communities and even participated in actions like a march on the Town Hall in Chicago and an environmental justice tour in Ponca City.

This video show a glimpse of the rallies, convergences and marches that the Caravan participated in along the way. Watch more videos of the trip at the KUNM Youth Radio YouTube page.

Join the Youth Health Ambassadors of the Albuquerque YBHC program in their research.


We need youth and adults to participate in focus groups to help answer our research question:

How can we build a healthier sense of community in
low-income communities of color, while educating
youth on important health issues, such as limited sex
education and high drop-out rates?



Youth (ages 14-23) focus group:
July, 15 @ 5pm

Adult (ages 24+) focus group:
July, 22 @ 5pm

SWOP Youth Office
211 10th St.
Albuquerque, NM 87102


For more info. Contact:

Tracy: Tracy@youthnoise.org, 505-315-7900
Or
Aurea: chipinajinx@yahoo.com 505-301-5832

Youth Building Healthy Communities is a project of Youth Noise that develops youth to use media as a tool to create healthy communities. Youth bloggers in Oakland, Detroit and Albuquerque are participating in the project.

Please join us at our summer SWOP member meeting.When: Saturday, July 17th; 10am-2pmWhere: SWOP Offices- 211 10th St SWWhy: To get updates on our strategic planning, a report back from the USSF and discuss the issues of jobs and immigration!For more info: Call 505-247-8832

A 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel has upheld U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera's decision that New Mexico Secretary of State Mary Herrera's attempted regulation of SWOP and New Mexico Youth Organized (NMYO) was unconstitutional. We fully expected the Court of Appeals to protect our rights to free speech and are not surprised by their decision, but it still feels good to be done with it. Unless, of course, NM Attorney General Gary King and Secretary of State Herrera wish to appeal the decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Read some background on the case here on our blog. Read more about the 10th Circuit decision here and here.

SWOP and Center for Civic Policy's NMYO have been in this battle together since we had the audacity to inform constituents about their representatives' voting records and campaign contributors. "The decision by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals affirms the right of nonprofit organizations to hold public officials accountable. It also affirms the right of nonprofit organizations to educate the public and engage them in their democracy," explains Center for Civic Policy CEO Matt Brix. "We hope with this decision that this matter can finally be put to rest."

SWOP's Executive Director Robby Rodriguez believes the decision "validated what we've said all along, which is that Attorney General Gary King was inexplicably trying to abridge our right to free speech... And his pursuit of the case despite well-established law has had a chilling effect on free speech in this state."

Robby brings up a huge point- regardless of the Court's decision, the attack on our organizations is very troubling. Fortunately, SWOP and CCP have the resources to defend themselves in court from such an attack. But what about smaller organizations? Will all groups who want to educate the public have to develop a legal defense plan from the Attorney General and Secretary of State? It doesn't matter that we're right- the 10th Circuit ruling even states there is "no evidence" to prove the AG's allegations- the attack on our constitutional rights is still damaging. I hope that the Attorney General and Secretary of State can now find some more pressing issues on which to focus their attention.

The educational mailers sent out by SWOP and NMYO should never have been considered or described as electioneering or inapproriate politcal activity. Predictably, the politicians in question were more concerned with their public image than with the issues being discussed and with the political involvement of their constituents. Fortunately, they're finding that they can't hide from the truth, not even behind entities like the Attorney General and Secretary of State.

The way I see it, if they consider disclosure of their voting history and campaign contributors a political attack, maybe they need to rethink the way they do politics.

SWOPistas are back in New Mexico from the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit. Our caravan to the forum was chronicled here last week, and there's more to tell about this great convergence of social forces in Detroit, to which 45 SWOPistas traveled together. It was a week full of presentations, dialogue and actions. Here are a few photographs.




The opening march through downtown Detroit was huge, thousands of people wound through the city to the convention center, COBO hall. We arrived from Chicago, with the People's Freedom Caravan, which lined up together to join the march. SWOP had a large representation of families traveling with us, which set us apart a little. Here are a few of our very young members on the march with their parents.



There are thousands of self-organized workshops at the USSF. Once in Detroit, SWOP members dispersed to workshops throughout the forum. Here we have SWOP youth and KUNM Youth Radio members presenting a film they put together about the experience of the caravan. We'll have clips from that film posted here later this week. The next photo is of Bolivian Amabassador to the U.S. Pablo Solon, talking to grassroots organizers about climate justice. You can hear his speech at the closing plenary of the USSF online.



Marches and rallies happened every day at the USSF. In these photos, local organizations and unions led the way to demand quality jobs and a commitment to social services for Detroit citizens.




The USSF convenings were organized into workshops, evening plenaries and assemblies. The assemblies were self-organized gatherings designed to seek alignment among organizations on a wide range of issues, beginning before the forum. Each afternoon, people brought their positions to broad topical assemblies, which built up to a final People's Movement Assembly on the final day, pictured here.

We'll have more on the outcomes of the USSF in the coming month. 

Join the Youth Health Ambassadors of the Albuquerque YBHC program in their research.


We need youth and adults to participate in focus groups to help answer our research question:

How can we build a healthier sense of community in
low-income communities of color, while educating
youth on important health issues, such as limited sex
education and high drop-out rates?



Youth (ages 14-23) focus group:
July, 15 @ 5pm

Adult (ages 24+) focus group:
July, 22 @ 5pm

SWOP Youth Office
211 10th St.
Albuquerque, NM 87102


For more info. Contact:

Tracy Tracy@youthnoise.org, 505-315-7900
Or
Aurea chipinajinx@yahoo.com 505-301-5832

Did you know that one of the largest landfills in New Mexico -- the Camino Real Landfill -- is situated atop one of the major aquifers in our region, in a very small city called Sunland Park? Sunland Park residents, predominantly Hispanic and very poor, say they've had enough of the privately owned landfill and its clouds of dust, intolerable stench, and steady traffic of garbage trucks.

This landfill's operating permit is up for renewal right now, and we have the chance to bring environmental and social justice to Sunland Park if you take action now!

Tell Governor Richardson and New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Secretary Ron Curry to deny the renewal of Camino Real's operating permit. Click the link below:

http://action.sierraclub.org/CaminoLandfill

Since the early 1970's this landfill has been used for the dumping and disposal of solid waste originating almost entirely outside Sunland Park. Several years ago Phelps Dodge International Corp., a large mining company, self-disclosed that for years it had used the Sunland Park landfill for the illegal dumping of hazardous waste. In 2004, the New Mexico Environment Department confirmed that medical waste and asbestos had been illegally dumped in the landfill, leading to a monetary fine. To make matters worse, the landfill is only partially lined.

Please send messages both to Secretary Curry and to Governor Richardson urging that Secretary Curry not renew this permit until his original conditions are satisfied and steps are taken -- including a community-wide health assessment -- to ensure the health and welfare of the Sunland Park community, and the region’s major water supply, is protected.

P.S. After you take action, please forward this message and share it on your social media networks!

On the final leg of our caravan heading north to the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit, we joined Chicagoans for a march to Chicago’s City Hall to demand jobs, housing, and critical health care services.

We began at the site of Cabrini Green, a historic public housing project that has been mostly razed by the city of Chicago as part of its “Plan for Transformation,” which will ultimately raze or rehabilitate 25,000 public housing units in the city.

At its height, Cabrini Green was home to 15,000 people. Rather than maintain the housing over time, city officials chose not to invest in the community, leading to deplorable conditions that masked the web of community inside for those outsiders who act as judge and jury on its future. Now, the site is a ghost of the past community, with the high-rises gone, and about a third of the population remaining in row-housing that still stands.

A mix of affordable and public housing will be set aside in the new developments in the area for former Cabrini Green residents, but they’re too little too late for keeping intact the extended families that lived in Cabrini Green for generations. When Cabrini was destroyed, lease-abiding residents were given a “right to return” to new development, but many of those have seen their applications denied due to things like poor credit, a history of late rent payments, or criminal records in their families. Another option for residents was to take Section 8 housing vouchers, which can be used to subsidize rent. A vast majority of those who took that option have dispersed to other areas of Chicago, that are more “…segregated, isolated, and poor than Cabrini had been.”

Our march to City Hall began in a barren parking lot skirting the edge of a fenced off section of ground that used to hold towering housing projects. “Coming soon” said one design sketch posted on the wall of a building along our route.

The signs of new development encroaching on the space are everywhere, and its a development that looks vastly different from what came before. But as we wound through largely boarded up two story row houses, the outdoor social life of the remaining community was evident, suggesting once bustling streets. Men played dominoes at a table and clustered on sidewalks. Children rode their bicycles. A solitary grill smoldered next to a chair in front of boarded up doors.

The story of Cabrini Green's demise is an old one, actually.

The history of the United States is rife with social engineering that disregards the value of intact social and familial communities, in the name of economic development or urban revitalization. Not surprisingly, these demolitions don't happen in wealthy neighborhoods.

In Albuquerque, for instance, a lone house surrounded by the National Hispanic Cultural Center confronts visitors with the lost history of an entire swath of the historic Chicano neighborhood of downtown Barelas demolished in the name of "urban renewal" in the early 1970s. In that case, a significant portion of the traditional Barelas families were displaced, so that the area could be re-zoned for industrial use. The attempt to attract large industry just south of Albuquerque's downtown failed, but not before the houses were razed. Eventually, public institutions like the NHCC filled the empty space.

The end results of these sorts of schemes to "improve" the urban environment actually has an overall effect that Lawrence Vale, a public housing expert at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, calls the "purging of the poor."

A funny thing happened on the way to City Hall

Gentrification and displacement, lack of jobs, poor social services; our caravan joined with our Chicago companer@s to make demands on city leaders.

When we arrived at City Hall, our vibrant and highly diverse group were met by Walmart funded “protesters” wearing pristine white t-shirts emblazoned with the Walmart logo and a demand for jobs.

Can you say “twilight zone”?

We had been met by one of the largest sweatshop corporations in the world, trying to co-opt our march and rally to get their message on the evening news. Apparently, unions in the city have successfully blocked expansion of the retail giant into the city proper until they raise their minimum wage.

The battle over Walmart's minimum wage in Chicago is long-standing, with the company being successfully blocked by the passage of a big-box ordinance in 2006 calling for $11.03 an hour, plus $3 in benefits. Yesterday, the company offered $8.75 an hour, which was met with outrage from union leaders.

Walmart supporters say the city can't afford to turn up its nose at the jobs. But union leaders say Walmart can afford to pay the wage mandated by the big-box ordinance.

"Wal-Mart doesn't make this investment out of a sense of corporate largess. They're not gifting the money. They're doing it because they have to invest in an urban market. Their stockholders are demanding it," said union leaders in reply.

Rock on Chicago Labor!

The People's Freedom Caravan rolled into St. Louis last night and was joined by the bus representing Southern Echo and the people of Mississippi. We now have representatives from all across the Southern and Southwestern United States in our caravan. This morning we pulled up in front of Peabody Coal headquarters with the power of 3 buses full of rowdy caravanistas. The People's Freedom Caravan gave it's support to the people of St. Louis in demanding an end to the excessive consumption of taxpayer dollars by the massive, global energy corporation.

Peabody Coal, the world's largest private-sector coal company, is seeking an incentive package that would include a 10-year tax abatement on up to $50 million in new equipment and $11 million on building improvements, and a 50% break on earning and payroll taxes for new employees Peabody hires. Peabody Coal has already received $10 million in new market tax credits and now they are asking for another $61 million, all without a guarantee that they will stay in the city of St. Louis.

Peabody Coal's massive tax breaks are just another example of corporate profits given priority over people and communities. The time for clean, renewable energy has certainly arrived, yet these fossil fuel companies continue to leech off of the taxpayers. Peabody Coal, like so many other corporations that sap our community resources, hides behind the guise of providing jobs. However, investment in renewable energy creates three times as many jobs as investment in fossil fuels. Coal-fired pollution also causes more than 23,000 premature deaths every year, and St. Louis was named the #2 Asthma Capital by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. And all this without any guarantee that Peabody Coal will even stay in the city!

The New Mexico delegation bound for the U.S. Social Forum was excited to participate in the protest outside of Peabody Coal's headquarters today because we see the damage that fossil fuel corporations are doing to our country, and we realize that the only way to fight back against such massive forces is for many communities to join together and speak with one voice. St. Louis residents passed by our protest on their way to the Cardinals game and stopped to ask why we were gathering and protesting. That kind of exchange is exactly why the caravan is important- we're letting communities everywhere no that they're not alone and we're ready to take back our country!

Thank you St. Louis! On to Louisville...

A fine black dust from Continental Carbon Black coats the trees, the wheat, and the wetlands. A city’s landfill sends its detritus on the wind to toss and tumble through the sacred burial ground of the Ponca people. The children are forbidden to swim in the natural springs. The land is incapable of providing organic food for families to eat. After a day of travel Friday on our way to the 2010 United States Social Forum, SWOPistas and companer@s from Southwest Workers Union in San Antonio, Texas were hosted in northeastern Oklahoma by the wonderful, extended Camp family, who are members of the Ponca Nation and leaders in the American Indian and environmental justice movement.

Casey Camp-Horinek addresses caravanistas in Ponca City.

During our visit in Ponca City with the members of the Coyote Creek Center for Environmental Justice, the Tulsa Indian Coalition Against Racism, and the American Indian Movement, we learned not only about the brutal environmental devastation visited upon the Ponca Nation in the modern era by big corporate polluters, but also about the historic injustice that the state of Oklahoma represents in the United States.
The painful legacy of forced removal and relocation of almost 50 tribes to the state, broken treaties and stolen land, is compounded by a dominant Anglo society that refuses to acknowledge the past or make amends in the present. Instead, environmental racism is on vivid display, with hugely polluting industries located on the Ponca homeland on the south side of the town.
Continental Carbon Black, the huge Conoco Phillips Refinery, Ponca Iron and Metal, and abandoned heavy industrial plants contaminated with heavy metals dot the landscape of the Ponca Nation land. Heavy poisonous metals permeate the air, dust the crops, sink into the groundwater.
His own children live in a radically different natural environment, from the time of his own youthful days growing up on the land, Mekasi Horinek said as he recounted the impact of the heavy industrial facilities on the land of the Ponca Nation. They can't swim in the natural springs or eat fish they catch from the river.
“It’s a form of genocide. We can’t live on the land, grow food or drink the water," he said.
To compound the injustice, Ponca City officials chose to locate the city’s landfill directly across the road from the Ponca tribe’s burial ground, which demonstrates a deeply ingrained disregard for the Ponca tribe’s almost 3000 members.
“When we come up here to put away our loved ones, to have our final ceremony, in this place that was established in 1891, we have to listen to bulldozers,” Casey Camp-Horinek told caravanistas as we observed the close proximity of the landfill to the sacred site of the Poncas on a hill top overlooking the country side. “When there’s a wind, we find Walmart sacks and other trash.”
Green grass belies the heavy contamination caused by industrial facilities in Ponca land
In the face of the historic injustice that permeates their present, the Ponca people are resilient and determined. They demand that companies cease their pollution. They insist the city remove its landfill. They retain their culture in the face of constant assimilationist pressures. They work in concert with their brothers and sisters cross country to end the multi-state, multi-national production and movement of community-killing fossil fuels to meet the needs of a society mired in wasteful consumption habits.
They met us in their community with open arms, welcoming us with food, stories and songs. Our meeting embodied what the social forum process is about: a space to share, build relationships, and strengthen our movement for justice.
Many thanks in particular to Casey and Dwain Camp for organizing our visit, and sharing the story of their people.
Just as we did in 2007, when we took a large delegation of New Mexicans to the first U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta, we’re headed to Detroit cross-country in a caravan with a multitude of our friends and allies from across the southwest.
The People’s Freedom Caravan is stopping along the way, to share histories, culture and struggles with communities along the way. First, the Ponca Nation. Next up: St. Louis, Louisville, and Chicago, before heading in to Detroit for the five days of the social forum.
We’ll keep you posted.

Last Monday, SWOPistas stood in solidarity with immigrants in Albuquerque and New Mexico. Along with over one hundred community members, we gathered in front of City Chambers in support of City Councilmens Rey Garduno and Isaac Benton's bill to overturn Mayor Barry's new policy of checking immigration status of all people arrested. We stand against this bill because we believe it will tear families apart and encourage a culture of fear amongst immgrants, where no crime gets reported and no resident cooperates with police for fear of deportation. In this time of extreme struggle and immoral discrimination and intimidation against immigrants, we at SWOP believe that NO human being is illegal. Now, more than ever, we must treat our fellow community members with compassion. That is how we will transform our community into a healthy, thriving environment.
I have nothing but respect for a person who is willing to leave all that he or she knows and loves to migrate to a place that promises a little more opportunity to support his/her family. I would do anything for my family...I believe most would. How can you begrudge someone for doing whatever it takes to support their family, when you would do the same?
I am thankful for the immigrants who live here in Albuquerque. I am grateful for the work they do, the kindness they show, the culture they bring, and most of all, for serving as a symbol of courage and inspiration, standing strong to support their families despite the ignorant racism and hatred they confront every day. We at SWOP support immigrants and believe they deserve the same rights as every human being: the opportunity to live in and contribute to a healthy community where we all can live, work and play.

Project Feed the Hood's series of urban gardening workshops continues this Saturday at the International District Community Garden. This week's subject: all-natural weed and pest control.

WHAT: Gardening Workshop: Weed and Pest Control
WHERE: International District Community Garden
1410 Wellesley SE (Corner of Wellesley and Ross)
WHEN: Saturday, June 12th 11 AM

Project Feed the Hood is dedicated to utilizing natural weed and pest control, in order to promote bio-diversity and a healthy environment. There are many homeopathic and unorthodox forms of weed and pest control, some naturally occurring, some proven, some un-proven; Project Feed the Hood is open to try anything.

For centuries farmers grew successful harvests without the use of harmful chemical pesticides. Pesticides have been proven to have negative impacts on health and our environment. According to one report the risk of contracting Leukemia increases by four to seven times for children ages 10 and under whose parents use home or garden pesticides. Many herbs and essential oils are effective alternative solutions. There are also naturally occurring predators, such as Lady Bugs and Praying Mantises, that are carnivorous and will only eat smaller bugs (who are usually attacking your plants). Keeping abrasive chemical pesticides and weed killers out of Project Feed the Hood will foster biodiversity (the more species of insects, plants, and animals, the healthier the ecosystem) and attract pollinators like bees and hummingbirds.

We are summer youth interns here at The SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP). Our names are Latisha, Jacob, Karla, Samantha, and Cecilia. This summer, we will be doing many activities and workshops that will help ourselves as well as our communities. We will be learning how to be better leaders and how to speak in public. We hope this summer helps further our knowledge on social justice issues throughout Albuquerque and New Mexico. We also want to further develop our leadership skills. This is important to us because it will allow us to become better community organizers in the future. We also want to get to know each other better and create long lasting friendships. In addition, we are looking forward to the collaboration of different cultures that are amongst us.

SWOP is an amazing organization and has an amazing youth program that continues to grow. This program is very important because it changes lives and opens many doors to young people of color. As youth, we hope this program continues the efforts to empower us as young people.