Blog Post #1

The main ideas of the article is centered on youth having a say in the adult world. It's all about the youth and adults working together as one to improve their community. A quote that stood out to me was, "What would our cities look like if we all started to truly see youth as powerful assets instead of problems?" (48). This quote I feel lets people know that YIA is all about seeing youth as an asset that adults should be taking advantage of and not wanting them to stay hidden. YIA empowers youth to have an importance within their community and it allows everyone that joins to have say and to gain amazing skills that are not typically taught in school.  Youth are allowed to share what they are passionate in without having the fear of being bullied, "At YIA, it's actually weird when you don't voice your opinion" (50). Another main idea in this article is that Providence school systems has teachers or guidance counselors have a stereotypical message of students' success rate in urban low poverty environments: "He looked at me with this pained expression on his face and said 'students from this school don't get into Brown.' Well, he was the expert, so I believed him-until a few of the community leaders in my life at the time set me straight" (53). The YIA supports students in these cities regardless of the stereo types out there; they see past it and believe that these students can do anything that they set their minds to.

If I had a program like the YIA in my school I feel that it would have benefited from it. Mainly because of all the real world experience it sheds like on that many schools never touch upon. As well as learning at an early stage that, "From my experience at YIA, I know that's where the change begins-through listening and being heard" (53). To learning how to become an active listener I feel is a necessary skill that most people forget about. As well as having your voice be heard; many people have a fear of public speaking and the YIA adheres to that and has the students becoming experts at it. I am a senior in college and I am still trying to work on my public speaking. I feel that if every community, urban and rural areas had the YIA it would make for a better future.