TEEN EMPOWERMENT NEWS
November 2008
Rochester Youth Conference & Speakout November 8
Teen Empowerment's Rochester site will present the 5th annual Youth Conference and Speakout on Saturday, November 8, from 11:30-4:30 at Monroe High School. This year's theme is
Fall Initiatives Coming Up
New youth organizer groups began work at our Boston and Somerville on October 20. Check back with us soon for information about community initiatives now being organized by these groups.
TE's New Website!
Teen Empowerment is grateful to the Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University for choosing us for a site redesign practicum project. We especially want to thank our design team: Adam Sweeney (team leader), Jesse Haley, Kourtney Keil, and Chris Lee.
TE at the State House
Teen Empowerment joined with Citizens for Public Schools and other cosponsors at the Massachusetts State House on February 13 for MCAS Reform Lobby Day and again on May 21 for the Unity Rally for Children Left Behind. See the sidebar for news coverage of these events.
For Lobby Day, Teen Empowerment prepared a booklet entitled Voices of Children Left Behind in Massachusetts Public Schools, which collects the experiences of 31 students and two teachers in urban public schools. Download the book or contact us to obtain a copy.
Moving Beyond Icebreakers 101
Teen Empowerment offers a workshop based on our group facilitation book Moving Beyond Icebreakers. Interactive methods are usually ignored or marginalized as "ice breakers" to be used only in the first few moments of a community meeting, or first few hours or days of a group's experience. This workshop demonstrates the depth and richness of several interactive exercises from Moving Beyond Icebreakers and how to use them to engage the hearts, minds, and energies of diverse groups of people. Whether you work with children, teens, or adults, you will leave this workshop with specific tools you can use in the next meeting you facilitate. Cost is $40 per person. In addition, workshop participants may also purchase a copy of Moving Beyond Icebreakers for $20. This is 50 percent off the retail price! (Please let us know when you register that you are interested in this promotion.)
The final workshop this summer is on Friday, August 8, 9:30-12:30, at 48 Rutland Street, Boston. Contact us to register or to be notified about future workshop dates.
PEACE MONTH IN BOSTON!
Teen Empowerment and the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute brought together more than 30 community groups, religious leaders, police, and elected officials to declare May as Peace Month in Boston. See the sidebar for coverage of the Peace Month press conference, where TE previewed a piece of a video, Voices from Behind the Wall, made in cooperation with the Department of Correction and featuring messages to youth from inmates at the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater, MA.
BOSTON AND SOMERVILLE YOUTH PEACE CONFERENCES 2008
Get more info about TE's youth conferences in three cities. See sidebar for news coverage.
Celebration of Hope and Caring
The youth and staff of Teen Empowerment are grateful to everyone who supported our fundraising event on March 6. Special thanks to the two outstanding individuals who honored us by allowing us to honor them at our Celebration: Clementina Chery of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute and Al Larkin of the Boston Globe and the Boston Globe Foundation. Read about our honorees (1-page download). Many thanks also to Celebration chair Leah Bailey, to emcee Karen Holmes Ward of WCVB TV5 in Boston, and to auctioneer Jim Wells. Read the speeches by 3 TE youth given at the Celebration (3-page download). Watch the Celebration video.
We are extremely grateful to all of the sponsors of this Celebration. Full list of sponsors (1-page download)
District Attorney Presents Check to TE
On February 14, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley came to TE's Egleston Square site to present Teen Empowerment with a check for $5000 as part of a program to return seized drug money to nonprofit community organizations. Press release
Youth Violence: What Is Happening?
Though the terrible upsurge in violence among young people in Boston is fading from the headlines, the tragedies continue. For analysis of why this is happening, see this article by TE's executive director, Stanley Pollack, published in the Boston Globe on July 18, 2006 (the file is a 2-page download), and this article in Salon.com featuring Stanley.
Shop and Search for TE!
Shopping: Do you shop online? Visit GoodShop.com first and they'll donate an average of 3% of your purchases to TE! GoodShop.com features great stores including BestBuy, Macy's, Apple, eBay, Target, Gap, and more. Go to GoodShop.com, select Teen Empowerment as your charity, click on a store's logo, and then shop as usual. If you make a purchase, TE will automatically receive a donation.
Searching: Do you search the internet? Use GoodSearch.com, which utilizes the Yahoo! search engine, select Teen Empowerment as your charity, and they'll make a donation to TE for each search.
TE a Better Business Bureau Accredited Charity
From the Better Business Bureau, March 2007:
"Congratulations! The Center for Teen Empowerment, Inc. has met all 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability with the Better Business Bureau, Inc. Use the BBB Charity Seal to help inform your donors of this accomplishment!" Donate to support our work.
CARE for Youth
Teen Empowerment is a proud member of CARE for Youth, a state-wide coalition that is working to keep kids safe and healthy by passing legislation to make comprehensive health education a reality for all Massachusetts public school students. To learn more about CARE for Youth and the Health Education Bill, please visit www.careforyouthma.org.
TE RESOURCES:
Improve your facilitation skills. Check out our interactive exercise of the month!
TE Times
TE's annual newsletter, the TE Times, is filled with stories and photos about our work and writings by TE youth. Go to our newsletter page to download copies of any newsletter, or to sign up to receive a hard copy.