By Maria Santana | Program Manager
RAP's record fourteen Youth LEAP programs are finishing strong! All the groups are having groundbreaking conversations about Mental Health, Relationship Violence, Police Interactions and Access of Higher Education. The young people are participating in conversations about self-acceptance and the need to be comfortable in one's skin in order to successfully move towards social change. They have advocated for themselves through pins, T-shirt campaigns, poster campaigns, and social media campaigns.
One of our facilitators from this semester shares: “When I first enter a space I always practice open-mindedness and allow the young people to be themselves. In the beginning, there is always some resistance but after they see me for 2 weeks they start to wait for me and just eager to talk to me. At GWS I noticed the shift when the group gave me a nickname of Ms. Leo due to my zodiac sign. That was their sign of acceptance towards me. After that, they couldn’t wait to tell me how they are doing and just talk to me. At RAP we make sure to allow time at the end of each session to allow the young people to talk to us if needed. At the end of my group, one of the boys literally teared knowing that I wouldn’t be coming back. My honesty and my consistency and lack of judgment allowed for my acceptance into their space.
An afterschool YouthLEAP program located in East New York, Brooklyn for High School aged participants. The young people identified as Latino and Black, not African American because their families are born and raised in the United States of America. A young female was a youthLEAPer and she learned through RAP that technology abuse is real and that harassing someone through social media is not okay. As an impact project they performed a skit about dating abuse specifically using phones. The message that they portrayed was that having access to phones allows teens to bully one another even if they are in a romantic relationship.
At the end one of the boys, Isaiah, age 14 yelled out “ Stop letting it slide at school, it aint our culture”.”
What's next...
We're excited to further honor the young people from all of our programs so follow RAP on Facebook, Instagram to virtually meet some of our current young advocates and alumni. You can hear from them directly about the work they've done with RAP as well as their hopes for RAP as we celebrate our 11th year of youth-led work. With your support, RAP is planning to expand our programs to serve twice as many of New York City's low-income youth, so. keep an eye out as more updates coming your way!
Thank you for your support and partnership!
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