We are Going to Costa Rica

Dedicated to Make a Change is now planning to expand our service trips to Costa Rica. Max has been trying to convince us that we need to go hang out in the sloth sanctuary. Below is the video that finally convinced us that we need to go.

We are still in the very beginning phases, but we are planning to carry baby turtles, baby sloths, and baby humans. The trip will probably happen sometime next year. Subscribe to this blog to stay up to date on all of Dedicated to Make a Change's service trips.

Movie Night #1 Was a Success

Last night was the first of the Dedicated to Make a Change summer movie nights.

Dev was the lead youth coordinator for the event. She worked hard organizing and selling the snacks for the night. Excellent job Dev!

18 wonderful people came to the Jim Toy Center to watch movies, eat ice cream, and have a great time. We watched Zombieland and the Incredibles.

We will be having a movie night on the second Wednesday of the month in July and August. Our next movie night is July 10th. We will be watching Footloose 1 and Despicable Me. Anyone age 12 to 18 is welcome to come.

Our radio show was awesome!

On Tuesday I was on the radio show Reality Strikes along with Carlos, Mia, Debrieana, Chloe, Angela, and Gail. Everyone had a chance to speak and overall the show went very well. I met some cool people(and a cool dog). The hosts Eric Brown and Stuart Boswell seemed  impressed and said they would like to make our appearance on the show a regular thing. Reality Strikes is every first and third Tuesday of the month from 7 to 9. You can hear it at katsentertainment.com. Follow this blog to see when we might be on air next and to stay up to date with all the other great things we are doing!

TONIGHT, JUNE 4, from 7-9 pm.

Dear Friends~ 

'Reality Strikes' on KATS Radio that is streamed online viawww.katsentertainment.com tonight, Tuesday, from 7PM - 9PM.
You will hear Allison Melcher, Mia Royster, Debrieana Jackson, Chloe Gurin-Sands, Angela Stanley, Carlos Carthage and Gail Wolkoff interviewed.
The work these everyday youth are doing, with Dedicated to Make a Change, is the type of program that people need to be aware of and hopefully become involved with.

Zander planting  lettuce with Suleiman and Adam Isack. The Isack family, now lives in Grand Rapids,  they are from Darfur.   

Creating a Safe Space

On Wednesday I attended a youth empowerment summit at Washtenaw Community College. The summit was organized by WATT and TCW2.  Dedicated to Make a Change hosted a workshop entitled Creating a Safe Space.  The workshop was open to both youth and adults, but only 3 adults showed up, making it clear that many youth are looking for a safe space but few adults are looking to create one. During Dedicated to Make a Change's workshop we discussed what constitutes a  safe space, who makes you feel safe, and what you wish adults knew about creating a safe space.

One of the activities was that the youth were asked to write down one thing that would help them feel safe. Here are some of their responses:

• Don't judge me based on my looks.
• Don't just use stereotypes.
• Always be there for me.
• Privacy is important. Respect boundaries.
• Have food. (multiple people said this one)
• Take off your "adult hat". Don't act like you are better than me.
• Follow through with your promises. Be trustworthy.
• Have materials available for a variety of learning styles.
• Remember that a safe space can have different meanings to different people.
• Create a place where I can share my true self. 

The adults were asked to write down something they would keep in mind when they were trying to create a safe space. Here is what they said:

• working with young people to develop safety rules for the group that everyone agrees on
• know that "safe" has different meanings for different people
• at the beginning of our time together ask the youth I work how to make a safe space for them

At the end of the workshop all the participants were asked to give a rating of the workshop by putting their thumbs up, sideways, or down. 97% of the participants put there thumbs up, so I'd call the workshop a success.

Summer Movies and a Safe Space

Dedicated to Make a Change will be hosting movie nights on the second Wednesday of the month throughout the summer as a fundraiser. The movie is free. We will be selling snacks and drinks.

You could have as much fun as these people.

 The first movie will be June 12th at the Jim Toy Community Center. The Jim Toy Community Center is located near Kerry Town at 319 Braun Court in Ann Arbor. All youth are invited. As always, this will be a safe space for all so feel free to come see a movie and hang out with your friends!

Youth and the NOLA Community

A group of 7 youth recently went to New Orleans, Louisiana for a 12 days of community service. We did lots of physical work including painting, restoring wetlands, removing invasive species from nature trails, organizing a library, moving lots of chairs to make room for a screen printing workshop, cutting a lawn, and cleaning a church, among other things.

 Michael, Lizzie, and Nils are planting in the wetlands.

However, I would say that about 50% of our difference is made just by being there, just by showing that people haven't forgotten about New Orleans, by showing that we still care, and by showing that teenagers can be helpful and thoughtful. Interacting with the community is what Dedicated to Make a Change is about. One of the things that makes service trips with Dedicated to Make a Change different is that we try to immerse ourselves in the community and do what they really need instead of coming in with a plan and forcing the community to fit our ideal.
One of the main people Dedicated to Make a Change has worked with over the years is Ward "Mack" McClendon, the owner and founder of the Lower Ninth Ward Village. The Lower Ninth Ward is a nonprofit organization and community center. When we arrive at the center we do not come with a specific vision, we ask Mack what he needs done and then we make it happen. Mack is famous for his tours and his reflections. Every time we work with Mack, he leads a reflection where we discuss what we have learned.

Mack leading one of his tours.

 Mack, Max, and Nils are looking thoughtful after a reflection with the group.

 We also worked with Augie at Wesley United. Augie is basically the unofficial caretaker of Wesley United.

Looking at the church.

Us chilling with Augie.

Augie said the best thing we could do for the church was to make it look nice on the outside. We raked leaves and picked up trash. We also bought some vegetable plants and brought them to Augie. He planted them in front of the church as a community garden.

Here is one of the beautiful flowers that Augie was caring for at Wesley United.

Another wonderful person I have had the chance of meeting in New Orleans is Smitty. Smitty is the author of a book about the 7 days after Katrina called Exiled in Paradise.He is also a great storyteller and he loves to make you think about things in new ways. We noticed that his yard was very long and asked if he would like it cut. If your lawn is over 6 inches high in New Orleans, you can be fined. Of course he said yes and we got right to work, with him telling stories and interrogating us about our beliefs all the while.

Me "golfing" in the long grass. We had to use swing blades to cut the lawn.

Lizzie working and talking with Smitty.

While we were working at Smitty's house a lady drove by and and thought it was nice that we were helping out so she gave us a box of macaroons. Nice little things like that happen to us all the time in New Orleans. Another person who showed us kindness was Darren. He works at the Lower Ninth Ward Village and when he heard we needed swing blades and a mower for Smitty's lawn, he gladly volunteered. Darren was great because he was very generous with his time and seemed to love talking to us about his work. He also came with us to Jazz Fest.

Here is Darren mowing the lawn with a lawn mower that he basically made from scratch.

While we were working at Smitty's house, the owner of the house next to his saw us and asked us to cut her lawn too. Of course we did and she invited us over to her house for a traditional New Orleans dinner. Allison also shared with us her experience of the hurricane. Her whole family was kind to us and let us see some photos they had salvaged from their house after the flood.

Here we are with Smitty and Darren.

Working with the community is a mutual relationship. When people realize you are there to help they are quick to tell their stories, show you around, make you a meal, and give you macaroons or tickets to Jazz Fest. Change brings hope and hope brings change. By giving the community hope and showing that people care enough to help, we really can make a difference.