Community Voices: Issues and Impact

Community Voices: Issues and Impact are forums sponsored by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. Started as donor forums, their goal now is to promote dialogue between all sectors of the community. In addition, we hope to catalyze efforts by the community to make a difference and to mobilize philanthropy.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Help Us Shape The Upcoming Forum!

For upcoming August 8th forum, we based the questions on feedback we received from the June forum on school issues, as well as comments from the original forum last year. It was clear from both that once a youth set aside the usual jokes about the best school being no school, they wanted to have a meaningful learning experience, and wanted to be inspired and pushed and listened to.

But how to capture that theme in the forum discussion? If you've received the email or card invitation, you will have seen the "What do you think...?" section, where for the last few forums I've listed some of the questions that have occurred to us in our planning. For this one, I listed the following:
  • What does success look like for you?
  • What kind of education do you need to be successful?
  • What are you doing to make your education successful for you?
  • What are the schools doing – or not – to make your education successful?
  • What are your parents and other adults doing – or not?
Do you think those are the right questions? Will they help in creating a productive discussion? Are there assumptions, whether we meant them or not, that shouldn't be there? Is it clear we understand that everyone -- youth, adults, schools, the system -- has a responsibility to create that meaningful experience? Is it clear that we are asking the youth to define success on his or her terms?

Let us know. We will not be preparing the dialogue outline until later the following week, so we'd love to hear from you. We will also be incorporating the feedback from a group of young people who will be meeting this coming Monday afternoon (July 24).

Thanks!
What Do Youth Really Want to Get Out of School? What Can Schools Do to Help?

These are the questions, based on feedback we received from the youth, that will be asked at our next forum, to be held on:

Tuesday, August 8, 2006
5:30 p.m.
Hamden’s Miller Center Social Hall
2901 Dixwell Avenue, Hamden, CT
See below for directions and parking

Refreshments and sandwiches will be served.

RSVP by Monday, August 7th, 2006
Call Angel Fernández-Chavero, 777-2386 x216
Or by email, afernandez@cfgnh.org


Directions and Parking to

Miller Center Social Hall
2901 Dixwell Avenue
Hamden, CT 06518
203-287-2547

DIRECTIONS
The Social Hall is located in the Miller Center, one block west of the intersection of Whitney Avenue and Dixwell Avenue. The auditorium is handicap accessible.

From I-91
Take Exit 10, Route 40 Connector. Follow the connector to the end. Left at the end of the exit onto Whitney Avenue. South on Whitney approximately 1.3 miles to intersection with Dixwell Avenue. Turn right on to Dixwell Avenue. The Miller Center is the fifth building on the left.

From Route 15
Take Exit 61. Right onto Whitney Avenue. North on Whitney approximately 0.3 miles to Dixwell Avenue. Turn Left onto Dixwell Avenue. The Miller Center is the fifth building on the left.

PARKING
Park in the rear library parking lot.
Final Set of Feedback from "What Can Communities Look Like When They Really Respect Youth?"

This is the third and final post of the feedback we received from the comment cards participants submitted. Remember that you can download the entire set in PDF format from our website. Go here .

What is one thing you liked about this forum?

Opportunity for dialogue between youth and adults

  • I liked hearing the passion and commitment to change in the youth. I also liked hearing from other community members working on youth issues on the ground.
  • Conversation with youth at the table.
  • I enjoyed the small group discussions, and especially listening to the children.
  • Sitting together among young people and exchanging feelings about the topic. Allowing the youth to give their views and know they were heard and respected.
  • I liked the idea that the young people got an opportunity to voice their opinions and to talk about issues that affect them alongside with adults.
  • A spirited exchange of ideas amongst the youth and adults on respect and other issues.
  • The opportunity to listen to youth (although they didn’t get enough airtime).
  • Conversation with young people. There should be more opportunity to engage with them.
  • Talking about young people WITH young people.
  • I liked the idea of youth and adults to come together.
  • I enjoyed the discussion. I find it interesting to listen to youth that I’m not usually exposed to.
  • I like the fact that youth were allowed to talk and voice their opinion, it’s not often that there is a chance to do this! So I thought it was okay!
  • I liked how adults didn’t try to shut the youth down. They actually listened to what we were saying. I’m curious to see if they will walk away having learned something that they can implement into their schedules.
  • That we are able to express our concerns about our community involvement. Also, the youth did speak about their concerns.
  • Talking about what youth think about their everyday life and thoughts.
  • Talking with the youth. It was eye opening and hopeful to find such articulate, caring youth.
  • I liked the fact that no one was shy. It was very easy to get comfortable and talk with the older people of my community. It was also nice to see that they were interested in hearing what I had to say and my concerns and insight about my community.
  • I liked the opportunity to talk with youth that are affected by the decisions we make as adults. It was good to hear from older generations, the shift in time and what they would like to see youth do.
  • I really liked the opportunity to exchange ideas with young people.

Youth as a forum topic

  • Nice to think about these topics.
  • The discussion. People truly putting our ideas of problems ~ systemic effects on youth issues. To recognize that people are knowledgeable about youth
  • I enjoyed the open discussion about youth life. I felt like my voice was heard.
  • I liked how the youth got to put their idea out. I have wanted to talk about issues in the communities, but really didn’t have a place to do it.
  • That we can talk about the neighborhood and to respect children.
  • The fact that we were asked to share what we thought would make a better community that includes the youth.
  • The topics that were discussed which are very important.
  • I liked how they involved children into many of the situations and took it upon themselves as a topic to discuss.

Meeting new people

  • I met people committed to young people and making change. It was inspiring.
  • Networking.
  • Great to meet others from the community
  • I was really happy that there were other youth.
  • I always like to meet new people and hear stories about different people in different places.
  • The opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds and experiences and share ideas on community challenges and opportunities for improving community life.
  • I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet people who are interested in community issues as well as share my experiences with the group. I am hopeful for future forums.
  • I met new neighbors!

Opportunity for dialogue generally

  • Open communication amongst all of the parties involved.
  • Our table had a good mix of people, and the discussion was lively.
  • Great conversation. Wonderful to hear others’ stories.
  • Ability to share ideas.
  • I liked the discussions – the ability to learn from different people about their experiences.
  • I liked how I got to speak my mind about youth life today!
  • The open dialogue between all sitting at the table. Adults, youth and agency workers.

Facilitation

  • I like the way the discussion was very open and I could speak my mind.
  • A thing I liked is that we can talk about something that we didn’t have to keep to ourselves.
  • Good design.
  • Everyone had an equal chance to communicate with one another.
  • The ease in which the diversity of people could contribute stories and ideas and how well the groups listened to each other.
  • Excellent format!
  • The small group discussions were good. A great size for getting real communication.
  • I really enjoyed the atmosphere – serious but comfortable.
  • Information flow and sharing was good.

Questions Asked

  • I really appreciated the questions that were asked, especially the intro questions, they were very interesting.
  • I also loved the questions.
  • I liked the questions that were laid out, it kept the conversation flowing.

Discussion outcomes

  • Development issues and the lack of respect in schools. How to build community.
  • That we can try to make the community a better place for youth. We need to have more after-school programs for young people.
  • It was very eye-opening. It helped me learn about how tough the world can be.
  • Helped dissect what we as people need – which helped think through what youth need.

Overall

  • The fact that it happened!!
  • Central facility. Great food.
  • Keep having these sessions. I will come.
  • Thank you, thank you, thank you. It was great!
  • I think the forum went very well. It was my first time and I enjoyed myself and hope to return to the next one.
  • It was great. I think we should do this more than once a year.
  • Thank you.
More Feedback for "What Can Communities Look Like That Really Respect Youth?"

What follows is participants' comments on how we could improve the next forum.

Please tell us one thing we can do better next time.

Invite more youth
  • Youth attendance seemed slim.
  • Have more youth
  • Next time there should be more youth from the communities and not just from organizations. Should be advertised more in schools. Get youth from different schools: Hillhouse, Shelton, Greenwich, Cross.
  • Do more youth outreaching.
  • I think that the one thing that I thought should be better is having more youth come around the age of 10 – 16 so we can get their opinion too.
  • Make sure you have many more young people. We need to hear from them.
  • We need more kids. Less adult talk if we really want to hear from kids.
  • Try to attract a different set of kids, and have us talk more.
  • More young people involved in the program
  • Increased student / youth involvement.
  • Having more youth would be good.

Equality of participation

  • Ensure a good mix amongst the table groups before starting.
  • Sharing with equal numbers of representatives from the staff / board, youth and community people.
  • At the beginning, less adult talking and more everyone talking. No separate questions for adults and youth.
  • For next time, you can probably have more time so all of us can have equal amount of time to speak.
  • Higher youth:adult ratio at each table. Facilitator sets ground rule about air time for youth.
  • Mix the groups so there are even mixes of youth and adults.
  • Better listening on the part of the adults involved in the workshop
  • Make time for the youth to talk. Maybe even have them prepare something in advance so that they will be able to get their point across.

Tell us what happens next

  • I think opening dialogue between youth and adults, community leaders is good for idea but I’m not sure it is a catalyst for change.
  • A sense of where this is going, what it’s for, what will come of ideas suggested…
  • There needs to be an outcome whether it is a collective letter or something that is sent to a law maker or decision-making forum or some kind of follow-up.
  • Understanding where / what this dialogue is accomplishing – our facilitator took no notes. Just too much adult talk.
  • I would like to incorporate next steps.
  • I would love to see a plan to reach an engaged / invested youth society.
  • True follow-up to let folks know that something was done with the information

Provide a clearer, more specific agenda
  • I feel like you should be more realistic [about the questions asked].
  • Narrower topics
  • The agenda was not as clear as it could have been with regard to the discussion.
  • Having a more specific agenda may be more helpful in guiding our conversation. If we had a specific set of problem areas, we might be more productive.

Allow more time
  • More time
  • Plan more time!
  • We needed a lot more time to discuss things amongst each other.
  • Time was short for the size of the group.

Youth Facilitation
  • Maybe have a youth lead the group discussions.
  • Make sure that youth get a chance to facilitate.
  • Have youth be trained to be facilitators.

Discuss the outcomes together
  • I think after discussion, different groups should be allowed to voice opinions to the entire community of thinkers so we can get everyone’s voice and get other ideas and thoughts.
  • I would have liked to come together in the end and discuss the outcome of each group discussion.
Facilitation
  • How to get everyone to see youth as equal, as partners.
  • One thing you can do better is to get more people involved and participating.
  • Smaller groups
  • Be a little more realistic about the questions you ask
  • Pre-writing activity before attending – get people thinking about what they will be talking about
Discussion outcomes
  • Provide more suggestions on what young people can do to make a difference, more encouragement.
  • Try to have more fun activities for young people in the community.
Other
  • I only received notice on Monday, so additional notice would be great.
  • Sandwiches without condiments
  • Have data available (statistics, lists of available programs)
  • I think possibly coordinating with various other organizations on youth forums would be great.
  • The next time you should have a more comfortable environment so the people can be more comfortable and more open

Friday, July 14, 2006

What Can Communities Look Like When They Really Respect Youth?

Parents, donors, activists, youth, agency representatives, and even a judge and a juvenile prosecutor came to discuss that question on June 7, 2006, at the Celentano Museum Academy in New Haven.

The question was based on feedback we received from a previous forum.

Divided into groups of 6-8 people, evenly representative of the various constituencies, the participants were invited to ponder the questions below:
  1. Question for Adults: What did you do to add value to your community when you were young?
  2. Question for Youth: What are you doing now to add value to your community?
  3. Question for Adults and Youth: (ADULTS) How did this change or (YOUTH) how is this changing your life or the way you look at your community and the world?
  4. Question for both Youth and Adults: What do communities that respect their young people look like?
  5. Question for Youth: What can you do to make your communities respect young people?
We received very forthright feedback from everyone. Below, for example, are the ideas for future topics that everyone suggested. Take a look at them, and please comment on them... add more if you like! I'll be including additional feedback for your review and commentary in future posts.

Ideas for future topics:

Future orientation

  • To effect change or impact policy, consider narrowing the topics for future forums to allow time to drill down deep into the issues.
  • Make dialogue about now and the future, not about the distant past = more equal for everybody
  • Come up with possible solutions. Don’t just do a dialogue that talks about what has been done, but more so what could be done and how to go about doing it.
  • I think there should be a take-off from this forum and bring more youth together to actually conceptualize and bring vision of a community to life. We should invite young people to work on that vision, and as adults we need to make it happen.


Education

  • What does the community need to know about the “achievement gap”?
  • School system
  • Charter schools vs. public education
  • Parents and grandparents roles in children’s education
  • How to improve the educational system
  • Do the teachers / administrators at your school work hard to prepare you for the “real world”?
  • Urban education

Youth Programs

  • After-school and summer programming for youth
  • Mentoring programs / connecting community
  • Need for youth programs.
  • Why can’t the city open recreation centers?
  • Jobs for youth.
  • Other people can learn more about programs.
  • I would suggest that people share ideas about programs that work for them.


Youth-Adult Dialogue

  • I think we could make more group meetings (forums) for youth and adults to learn how they think and for better knowing how to relate with them.. That will help the community to grow for the best with less crime.
  • Increasing listening between youth and adults
  • Have a panel full of youth who are willing to talk about community issues
  • I would have young people talk more about what they do and what they wish to see.


Community Building

  • Community event organizing
  • Mix different races to talk to see what we have in common and differences.
  • I’d like to see this done in each neighborhood – Fair Haven, the Hill, etc.
  • Inequalities for youth
  • Community, not just the kids’ involvement, but the whole community.
  • It would be interesting to discuss how community residents, agencies, etc., can collaborate to address tangible projects.

Addressing Violence

  • What are the root causes of youth violence?
  • I would like to talk about the amount of violence going on nowadays.
  • Police and youth in the community: building better relations
  • Violence, families, breaking generational cycles of bad families


Thursday, July 13, 2006

About GNH Community Voices

It's not as if blogs are new-fangled or anything, but this blog is still an experiment -- an experiment by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven to find new ways to continue the dialogue started at our Community Voices: Issues and Impact forums, where we've had the great privilege of hosting terrific exchanges of ideas between various sectors of our community, including donors, nonprofit agencies, activists and most importantly, constituents and members of the community at large.

We aren't the first to notice that our community has stratified in many ways. Our overall goal in hosting these forums is to help those strata reconnect. It's funny in a sad way how hard it can be to get people to talk to each other. Too often, they talk past each other because one side's talking apples while the other's talking oranges.

Fortunately, we've been lucky at our forums. Our partner, Community Mediation, has done an excellent job in facilitating the discussions to create true dialogue, and of course, the people who have attended have genuinely wanted to engage in multi-way conversations.

We also hope that the dialogues will inspire participants to commit to making a difference. Perhaps some activists agree to coordinate their efforts, or a donor chooses to increase his/her contributions to a worthy cause (and recruit others to join in), or a group of nonprofits find that they should include constituents in their planning efforts, or all three constituencies band together to create a new initiative -- whatever the idea, the point is that one chooses to give of oneself -- one's time, expertise, or resources. And it doesn't have to be something dramatic. It can be as simple as just wanting to learn more.

This year's forums are focusing on issues important to youth. How they feel about specific issues, what are they doing about those issues, and how adults and "the system" -- really, all of us -- can work with them to resolve those issues.

Join us in the dialogue!

Angel Fernández-Chavero
for
The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
www.cfgnh.org