The Young People’s Project (YPP) is now working with students in McComb, Mississippi. The Young People’s Project’s mission is to ”develop students aged 8-22 from traditionally marginalized populations as learners, teachers, leaders, and organizers through math and media literacy, community-building, and advocacy in order to build a unique network of young people who are better equipped to navigate life’s circumstances, are active in their communities, and advocate for education reform in America.”
The connection between the Young People’s Project and teachers in McComb was made at the SNCC 50th anniversary conference at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in the spring of 2010. In December of 2010 the project was launched with YPP staff from Jackson, Mississippi making weekly visits to McComb to work with a team of junior and senior high school students after school.
This work is supported in part by a grant to Teaching for Change from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Teaching for Change staff were pleased to coordinate a full day tour of D.C. on February 25, 2011 for four representatives from the Jackson YPP office who were in town for the Voices in Action: National Youth Summit.
The tour included visits to:
- a 5th grade classroom and African Heritage Celebration at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School,
- the Lincoln Memorial, the U.S. Capitol, and the outside of the White House, lunch at Ben’s Chili Bowl where they were joined by the YPP team from Los Angeles,
- the Frederick Douglass Home at Cedar Hill where a representative from the National Park Service gave the group a full private tour of the historic site,
- Ballou High School where they shared stories with students about education and culture,
- Bell Multicultural High School where they participated in a poetry club workshop,
- dinner at Busboys and Poets where they met Teaching for Change board member Nzinga Tull and volunteer Amber Massey.
More photos from the day in D.C.
Photos on this page: Top: Yoditra Davis, Marquis Lowe, Kendrick Cotton, and Jessica Winford with the Honorable Baba-C (center) at EL Haynes PCS African Heritage Celebration. Middle: Yodrita Davis, Jessica Winford, and Kendrick Cotton from YPP-Jackson lead a community building activity at EL Haynes in a 5th grade classroom. Lower: Young People’s Project (YPP)-Los Angeles and YPP-Jackson at the Frederick Douglass Home (Cedar Hill) in Washington, DC. Joined by Allyson Criner from Teaching for Change at far right.