Some 120 young leaders, trained to advocate for their communities, headed to Washington, D.C., to present their policy proposals to lawmakers.

August 2009

By Nathalie Moberg and Laura Reinhardt, World Vision U.S.

Some have grown up homeless or in gangs. Others have parents in prison. Still others spent their childhoods in abusive homes.

The past has been less than kind to this group of young people, and no one could blame them for walking into adulthood with few resources and no vision. But for these dynamic youth, the future is filled with promise.

Disadvantaged backgrounds inspire action

Placing their tarnished pasts behind, 120 young people from distressed urban and rural communities across the United States headed to Washington, D.C., on July 18 to present policy proposals to their members of Congress. The youth are part of World Vision’s Youth Empowerment Project, which trains young people from 12 locations across the nation to advocate for their communities as they hone their leadership skills.

They include youth like Anthony Mackey, whose lack of self-esteem thrust him into an Albany, Ga., gang when he was 13, and Brittnee Thompson, whose childhood residence in Tacoma, Wash., was often a homeless shelter.

Despite the challenges that many youth cannot even imagine, these resilient young people are learning to give back to their communities in exceptional ways through the Youth Empowerment Project. For many of these youth, the project has profoundly changed their lives.

Cultivating active community citizens

The Youth Empowerment Project is the signature program of World Vision’s U.S. Programs. The project provides young people growing up in at-risk communities with the tools and experiences that inspire and encourage civic participation and leadership. During 20 weeks of intense training, youth delegates learn to become active citizens who speak out and influence change in their communities.
Training focuses on developing life skills, leadership capacity, civic engagement, and advocacy abilities. Following training, the youth have taken their newly acquired knowledge and skills to the Youth Empowerment Summit in Washington, D.C., where they gathered with youth delegates from across the nation to present their policy proposals to their lawmakers.

The Youth PROMISE Act

After two days of speakers, workshops, discussion groups, and some sightseeing, delegates crisscrossed Capitol Hill to speak with senators and representatives. World Vision staff members accompanied each delegation, but the young people ran the meetings, speaking from their hearts about the troubles in their communities, and proposing solutions.

Many of the student delegates are from communities severely impacted by violence; some have lost friends and family to senseless acts of brutality. For them, youth violence — often gang-related — is very personal.

One of the issues the teens advocated for is the passage of H.R. 1064/S.435, the Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education (“Youth PROMISE”) Act, a comprehensive approach to addressing youth violence.

“Research has proven that it is much more cost-effective to invest in early childhood education, after-school programs, mentoring, and other prevention and intervention efforts, as opposed to costly incarceration and punitive strategies,” says Corryne Deliberto, World Vision’s domestic policy advisor.

“This bill has a strong focus on evidence-based methods of prevention and intervention that are proven to reduce and prevent delinquency and steer young people toward a more healthy and productive future.”

Only the beginning

Many of the teams received positive feedback from the meetings. “I wasn’t as well-spoken as you all are when I was your age,” the aide for Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell told the group from Tacoma.

The delegates were pleased with their day. “All the people we talked to had really good feedback,” said Ohio delegate Kelly. “It made me feel good about myself because I’m actually making a change in my community.”

But they all voiced the need to do more when they return to their communities. They know that the visit to Capitol Hill is only the beginning.