Youth-Led press Conference

“Today was great as I'm one of the participant for the Day of Action. Due to that, those of us involved dive into another meeting just to have a run through of the proposal for the Day of Action program. Overall, the Gem project has equip me with knowledge and skills to improve myself to become an effective leader in the near future, becoming resourceful and productive in any sector I may find myself to be. It has also taught me how to be the change I will like to see in the world. My major takeaway is that, as I embark on the journey as a change agent in my community, I will identify a problem within my community, build relationship with people with the right mindset as me, and develop a plan or strategy to address these problems to improve the quality of life of people within my community. Big thanks to everyone, especially our mentor Quadir Walker, who played a big role to make our summer program an eye witness.”

This whole Gem Project experience really opened up my way of thinking when it comes to Social Justice because it's steps to take before actually taking action. When it comes to building up a community we need to make sure everybody is on board and committed to the work they are putting in. We want to make sure that everyone is putting effort into their work and what they are trying to voice. This program had really surrounded around the idea of bringing youth into voicing their opinion and ideas when it comes to changing the social justice system.

"Today we discussed Dr MLKs Six Steps for Nonviolent Direct Action and talked about how liable we think each step is and if we would consider it to be effective today. However, throughout this whole program I have been introduced to many other enlightening things. We’ve discussed things like the organization cycle, building power, planning groups or committees, the CCRB, etc. We’ve created paintings and sketches expressing what we see and how we feel about social justice today and had a fun time doing it. We’ve discussed the difference between a problem and an issue and ways to come about certain situations and how to use direct action to solve them. We learned about stakeholders and how to incorporate youth’s opinions and voices to the changes the communities are trying to create. By teaching the youth all these things I feel like it really opens our eyes to the changes we can make to our communities. I had a really great time during this program listening to other people's opinions and voicing my own. It has been a fun experience. "