Hsm/230 Youth Growing Up in Urban Communities

Youth Growing Up In Urban Communities Need Support

Shirene Cirino- Mosley

HSM/230

07/15/2012
Prof- Robin Van Kirk University Of Phoenix

Youth Growing Up In Urban Communities Need Support

In urban communities today, many youth fall short from what is really needed to grow up and live a successful life. This is due to the fact they are missing much needed guidance and support from their parents and families. Many youth grow up in single parent homes, which the majority of times the single parent is the Mother, having to work to take care of the family and the children fall short of adequate supervision and guidance. This causes the youth to get into all sorts of situations that may lead to many issues or problems. Such as, dropping out of school at a very young age; getting involved in gangs, drugs and all sorts of malicious behavior. Another reason youth get into problems are there is no real or enough activities for them to stay preoccupied so that they will not fall to the streets for something to do, and if there are programs for the youth to attend the price for them are very high and most likely the parents or guardians cannot afford them, so this leaves the youth out with nothing to do. Another reason why the youth in urban communities are not doing so well they say they feel disconnected, in a study by a Cornell researcher say they feel disconnected from their community. The reasons for this come, in part, from feeling discriminated against by unknown adults on the streets, in businesses and by the police. The young people also report feeling disconnected from their schools. The older the students, the less connected they say they feel. “Many young people in this study believed that they were individually and collectively invisible to many adults and adult systems," said Janis Whitlock, a Cornell research associate reporting her findings in her doctoral dissertation. The research was carried out in an urban community in upstate New York and based on a cross-sectional survey of 350 young people in grades 8, 10 and 12 and of 110 students in 11 focus groups. "Connectedness -- the extent to which youth perceive a sense of belonging and support to school and community -- is important," said Whitlock. "Connectedness to school, for example, has been shown to protect against violence, risky sexual behavior, drug use and dropping out of school. Youths who possess a sense of belonging are more likely to work harder and be involved in positive activities in and outside of school (Lang, 2003). This is one of the main reasons why we the people in the community need a place where our youth can learn and grow.

Youth Growing Up In Urban Communities Need Support This agency is a non for profit agency that rely on grants and donations from the government and the local communities that it represent to be able to provide, several kinds of services for the youth in the urban communities. This agencies mission is to help the youth that live in the urban communities, to stay on track or if they should fall off get back on track to grow up and live productive lives. The mission statement of this organization is “We learn and we Grow” This statement is what the agency lives by, we allow our youth to be who they are, teaching them what life is really about, letting them know that they are important in society, and without them there will be no future, they are our future this is why we strive to make their lives as positive as we can and show them that not everything is negative, and that they are really appreciated, also Our main priorities and values are to help the youths of our community become productive also giving them the knowledge that they need in everyday life. We also provide them with structure and give them a set of rules that they have to follow. We will be there when they need someone to talk to and just to listen. We want our youth 's to be able to make the right choices also inspire growth within themselves. We will also provide training and education. With the right tools and leadership the youths in our community can and will achieve their goals. Furthermore, these values are very important we may not be able to make an impact on all the youth in the community, but as long as we can grasp more than half, it should be considered a job well done, making sure that our mission and values are followed out to the best of our abilities, give all of our staff the necessary training on a consistent basis to be able to continue to provide these services, also with the much needed help from our sponsors it is very much needed and appreciated, so that we here at the organization can continue to provide these services, like the saying goes “ It takes a village to raise a child” anyone who haves enough support from all angles will more than likely do well especially the youth, most youth look for this attention so that they can feel they have someone on something to prove, this makes youth want to go out and achieve whatever it is that is expected from them. So here at the organization we will continue to strive and make our youth the most important part of our daily tasks. Seeing achievement from them is a million words in one in my eyes.

References
Lang, S. (2003, August). Youth in urban-community study say they feel disrespected, disconnected . Cornell Chronicle, ().

References: Lang, S. (2003, August). Youth in urban-community study say they feel disrespected, disconnected . Cornell Chronicle, ().