South End/Lower Roxbury Youth Workers' Alliance
The South End/Lower Roxbury Youth Workers' Alliance is a unique coalition, supporting young people by building collaborations and cooperation among youth workers. Founded and driven by youth work practitioners, over 150 youth workers are now involved with this alliance, representing more than 45 youth-serving agencies serving ages 6-21 in the South End/Lower Roxbury neighborhood.
The Youth Workers' Alliance (YWA) brings together youth workers from a wide range of organizations - from traditional afterschool programs for elementary-age children to sports leagues and summer camps, from health education programs to community organizing projects for teens, from tutoring programs to art programs.
The South End/Lower Roxbury is a neighborhood rich in opportunities and rife with challenges. It has the densest concentration of subsidized housing developments in the state; these housing developments are home to most of the 5,000 young people in the community. Budget cuts to social services over the last several years, combined with increasing housing costs in the neighborhood, have also turned these housing developments into breeding grounds for turf issues among youth. While this neighborhood has many youth opportunities, many young people are afraid of crossing the wrong turf to attend programs and events.
The Youth Workers' Alliance supports youth workers and youth programs to think in a neighborhood-wide approach, building collaborations to challenge the turf boundaries and to provide the best possible supports for all our young people. This means organizations cooperating to minimize the overlaps in programming and fill-in the gaps. It means youth workers and youth collaborating to create events for youth throughout the community. It means youth programs consciously developing curriculum to challenge the turf issues. It means youth workers sharing skills and resources to provide professional supports to each other.
Thinking in a neighborhood-wide approach led the YWA to the realization that outreach work to youth had become virtually non-existent in the community. Budget cuts and many individual agency decisions led to termination of some full-time outreach workers and eliminating the outreach component of other positions. Without outreach workers, turf issues in the neighborhood have escalated, and the YWA has stepped in to fill this gap. It is currently building an outreach team that will reach out to young people in every corner of the neighborhood and connect them to programming and opportunities that best fit their needs.
The core of successful work with young people is in the relationships developed between the young people and adults. Youth workers who are well-trained and involved in a professional support network will provide better supports for young people and develop deeper relationships with youth as they remain longer in their jobs.
Boston is in the forefront of developing the field of youth work and out-of-school time. The YWA is unique among the intermediaries in the field of youth work in Boston in that it was founded by and is driven by youth work practitioners.
YWA's have been created by youth workers, for themselves and their peers. It has monthly networking meetings and an annual retreat for youth workers, to build professional relationships and share resources. It distributes a monthly calendar of events for youth and has a very active email network with listings of jobs, trainings, events, and advocacy issues. YWA hosts collaborative events to bring youth programs together and provide mini-grants for smaller collaborative projects. It builds visibility for youth and youth issues through the media and community events, including the annual youth art auction, which showcases the creativity of youth.
The Youth Workers' Alliance has four key goals:
- develop & support a professional network of youth workers
- advocate for community investment in youth issues
- support youth workers as non-profit and community leaders
- advance the field of youth work
YWA look at the enormous potential that Boston has and dreams of a city with a youth worker alliance in every neighborhood, enabling all to learn from one another, effectively share resources, and create the best possible future for all young people in the city.
Please join YWA for its annual YOUTH ART AUCTION, May 25, 2005 at the Boston Center for the Arts. Help build community & celebrate the creativity of youth.
March 2005