This project will give youth, from a high-need area, the opportunity to learn about photography. In a community surrounded with poverty, crime, drug abuse and gangs, this would help keep these at risk youth off of the streets and involved in an activity that interests them.
This project will bring art and photography to under privileged, at risk youth in the community. Members are young people from disadvantaged economic, social and family circumstances; nearly three-quarters of annual household incomes are $19,000 of less and one-third receive some form of government support.
This project will teach photography skills to youth between the ages of 13-16. South Bellport has a significant population of photographers and artists, and this will help bring the two communities together. It will give at risk youth the opportunity to participate in an activity they normally wouldn't have the chance to do that interests them. It will also keep these youth off of the streets and out of trouble.
By providing this photography program to our teens, the Boys & Girls Club will increase their own sense of belonging to their community, provide photography skills and help the teens to express their own point of view in a creative way, giving them an outlet for creative expression and a positive experience of themselves and their community. This opportunity will help them shape a new vision for their future and connect them to positive role models for positive youth development.
