More than 100 students at the 43rd Annual Neighborhoods USA (NUSA) Conference in Birmingham on Friday created their own city where technology is paramount and littering and cyberbullying are not tolerated.
The City of Diversity – with the slogan, “Where Everybody Counts and YOU Matter” – was a “tech city” and it even came with an election season to give students a taste of politics.
Birmingham is hosting the 43rd Annual Neighborhoods USA (NUSA) Conference. The four-day event, which ends May 26, features a series of panels, workshops, and collaborative events that encourage networking, camaraderie, and idea-sharing. The theme for 2018 is “Building Tomorrow’s Community Today.”
Creating a city during the youth conference was a lot harder than imagined, said Annissa Owens, a rising junior at Shades Valley High School.
“You have to find neighborhood presidents, city councils, a mayor; you have to find transportation, how to get around,” she said.
However, Owens, 15, said she is grateful for the experience which included her role of getting people out to vote.
“[Citizens] have to get the law they want to be passed, and to do that, they have to vote for whoever they want to be mayor,” she said. “I think my part is important because if you want your voice to be heard you should go vote. So, you can’t get mad when the change you wanted didn’t happen if you don’t vote.”
DeRenn Hollman, 13, who will attend Ramsay High School in the fall, was a mayoral candidate and said his goal was to “make the city more comfortable and like easier for people.”
“I want more technology, and you won’t have to work as hard for things,” he said. “It’s a tech-heavy city, so it’s easy, but the easiest thing to do is to participate in the things the city has going on.”
Running for elected office wasn’t as easy he thought.
“Campaigning is hard because you have another candidate who is just as qualified as you,” he said. “But you also have a team behind you and people who support you and believe in you. It’s still hard to go up there and speak in front of people though.”
The candidates had two major campaign issues: cyberbullying and littering.
“You’re either for littering to be a crime or against littering to be a crime,” Owens said. “You’re either for social media to end because of cyberbullying or you’re against social media to end because of cyberbullying.”
Hollman said, “as a mayor I want some cyberbullying to stop, but I don’t think social media should have to end because of it. Social media is fun but use it responsibly.”
Campaigning taught the students some valuable lessons.
“You still have to go through a lot of different people (such as the legislative branch) and if they don’t like it, they cannot go through with it,” Hollman said. “You can’t just say ‘littering is a crime’; you have to send it to your council to approve it. If they don’t like the law they can vote against it.”
Owens said he now sees some things differently.
“Some things are not as easy as it sounds,” she said. “Like getting extra transportation is not as easy as I thought it was. Like getting a new bus. You have to go through voting and funding to get those new things.”
Danny Brister, operations manager for the City of Birmingham Mayor’s Office Division of Youth Services and co-chair for the NUSA Youth Conference, said the message for students was simple.
“We told them that we need their impact, their intelligence, we need them to engage,” Brister said. “At the age of 18 a young person can serve as neighborhood president. That’s important for them to know. As early as 16 they can vote in their neighborhood elections. We hope they gain an understanding that it takes a lot of work. We hope they leave inspired to make a change.”
Birmingham is hosting the 43rd Annual Neighborhoods USA (NUSA) Conference. The four-day event, which ends May 26, features a series of panels, workshops, and collaborative events that encourage networking, camaraderie, and idea-sharing. The theme for 2018 is “Building Tomorrow’s Community Today.”
And then there were five. That’s the number of finalists remaining in the NextGen Pitch Competition, for which dozens of students and teachers pitched ideas on how to make a better Birmingham.
Earlier this year, students and teachers submitted application essays that incorporated the following statement: “Birmingham’s bright future depends on ….” A panel of judges narrowed the submissions to six who were then paired with mentors from partner companies to help perfect the ideas and possibly make them realities; that list is now down to five.
On May 3, two students and three teachers with Birmingham City Schools will compete for the grand prize of $5,000; second- and third-place prizes are $1,500 and $1,000, respectively. The finals will be held at the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama building downtown Birmingham. There will be a reception at 5 p.m. followed by presentations at 6 p.m.
Summit Media’s Chuck Faush, who created the event and has partnered with the Birmingham Education Foundation (commonly called the Ed Foundation) and BBVA Compass, said students participating in NextGen are among the most talented in the Magic City.
“Two years ago, we launched an event hoping to recognize and reward those who give of themselves to make all of our lives better,” he said. “During that event, we were amazed that one of our awardees happened to be a student. That made us all realize that we have giants among us who are young and gifted, so we created NextGen to encourage and empower our youth and those who guide them every day.”
J.W. Carpenter, executive director of the Ed Foundation, which is a key supporter of and contributor to the event, said his group knows firsthand that Birmingham City Schools students and educators have fantastic ideas.
“Everyone involved with NextGen believes that we should shine a light on these ideas,” he said. “[We] are collaborating to put the spotlight on the people we should be listening to most when it comes to education: students and teachers.”
Here’s a closer look at the two NextGen student finalists and their mentors, as well as the three teacher finalists and their partners.
Students
Kamil Goodman…NextGen Birmingham teams and group shots at Vulcan Park in Birmingham Alabama Wednesday, April 18, 2018. (The Birmingham Times / Frank Couch )
Kamil Goodman, a 16-year-old A.H. Parker High School sophomore, proposes a leadership roundtable that will include youth leaders and elected officials in Birmingham. She is partnered with Zhaundra Jones of the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, “a permanent charitable endowment to drive positive change,” according to cfbham.org.
In her pitch, Goodman writes that the roundtable will serve as an opportunity for elected officials to fully engage with and hear the voices of young people in the city: “Elected officials will be able to hear how youth feel regarding violence, education issues, employment, and how to retain youth in Birmingham after graduating from high school or college.”
“Youth leaders have a voice and desire to be involved in the growth that awaits Birmingham,” she continues. “… This engagement will allow elected leaders to gain a true feeling and understanding of the youth today and create a blueprint for tomorrow.”
Jarvis Prewitt…NextGen Birmingham teams and group shots at Vulcan Park in Birmingham Alabama Wednesday, April 18, 2018. (The Birmingham Times / Frank Couch )
Jarvis Prewitt, a 16-year-old Huffman High School junior, said he’d like to implement a “Makerspace” program in all 43 Birmingham City Schools. He is partnered with Forté of the Ed Foundation, which is “driven by an urgency to help … students reach their potential,” according to edbirmingham.org.
Prewitt writes, “A Makerspace is collaborative learning environment where students and its users utilize technology to invent, experiment, and explore, while being challenged to be creative and think outside of the box while using STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). [It] … would serve as a virtual classroom where educators take the curriculum or a teacher-led project and utilize it in these labs. To further make the schools more inviting to parents, schools would partner with businesses that specialize in STEM to provide training in the parent-resource center.”
Teachers
Shauntae Lockett Lewis…NextGen Birmingham teams and group shots at Vulcan Park in Birmingham Alabama Wednesday, April 18, 2018. (The Birmingham Times / Frank Couch )
Shauntae Lockett Lewis, a physical education teacher at Minor Elementary School, would like to see a recruitment service for non-revenue-generating sports. She is partnered with Walter Body of the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United Inc., which “proudly support[s] many civic and charitable organizations serving [Birmingham’s] communities,” according to cocacolaunited.com.
“Everyone is looking for the next LeBron James, but your typical volleyball, soccer, or track-and-field athletes are not getting these looks,” Lockett Lewis writes. “If we offered a process beginning in 9th grade assisting students and parents with the process, we would see more of our non-revenue sports getting into college.”
Christina Sellers…NextGen Birmingham teams and group shots at Vulcan Park in Birmingham Alabama Wednesday, April 18, 2018. (The Birmingham Times / Frank Couch )
Christina Sellers, a kindergarten teacher at Huffman Academy, proposes a Genius MAP nonprofit organization that prepares and pairs students with the college or university of their choice “through mastery, autonomy, and purpose.” She is partnered with Caitlyn Burchfield of Butler Snow Law Office, “among the best nationwide in service—in anticipating needs, in a commitment to help …,” according to butlersnow.com.
“Our mission is anchored in belief,” Sellers writes. “At its heart, our program is sustained by the belief that our expectations and how students perform are positively correlated.”
“Students and parents will meet with a MAP guide every nine weeks to select actionable items that have been made available through partnerships with schools, local organizations, universities, and stakeholders to add to their current MAP module for completion. … Once items have been added to a student’s MAP module, students, teachers, and parents will receive a physical document and MAP legend detailing each activity and opportunity with relevant information, dates, and instructions.”
Kaleena Watts…NextGen Birmingham teams and group shots at Vulcan Park in Birmingham Alabama Wednesday, April 18, 2018. (The Birmingham Times / Frank Couch )
Kaleena Watts, who teaches American literature in A.H. Parker High School’s English Department, has proposed a districtwide student news outlet created for students by students. She is partnered with Valeria Walton Cornner of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, “a private, nonprofit organization … that works to attract, retain, and grow jobs in Alabama, while encouraging innovation,” according to edpa.org.
This effort is needed in today’s current political, socioeconomic, and educational climate, Watts writes: “With less than 20 percent of the students in our district reading at or above proficiency level, the student news will serve as a new resource to engage young readers, building better reading skills and habits. The platform … will allow students across the seven high schools … to collaborate in a way that models global business practices.”
GREENE COUNTY DEMOCRAT — A cold morning brought rays of sunshine this past Monday, February 6, 2018, to Alabama – along with more than 30 states plus Washington D.C. – helping roll out the National Poor People’s Campaign.
Initiated by Rev. William Barber of North Carolina, leader of the ‘Moral Monday Movement’, this grassroots movement already has feet beginning to march across the nation in an effort to uplift human dignity.
On the steps in front of the state capitol in Montgomery, a non-denominational, non-partisan group of some 50 people gathered.
A podium was erected and a PA system sprung to life with the introduction of speakers including: Rev.Tonny Algood, United Methodist Inner City Mission, Mobile, Rev.Carolyn Foster, Greater Birmingham Ministries, Birmingham., Rev.James Rutledge, AME Zion Church, Birmingham., Imam Abdur Rahim Sabree, Muslim Center of Montgomery, Natividad Gonzalez, Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ACIJ) Organizer, Birmingham – War Economy, Wanda, Bryant, Community Activist, Birmingham.- Poverty, Jelanie Coleman, Night of 1, Selma. Common threads were the reality of the level of poverty existing in our country today and the ills that have been perpetuated and increased as the result of being ignored for decades. The talks were to the point, addressing the issues of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy and ecological devastation, all hot topics for the Campaign.
Like all other Poor Peoples Campaigns around the nation in their own capitols, Alabama’s delegation delivered letters to both branches of the Legislature, House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia, and Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston.
Campaign organizers Tonny Algood and Cara McClure delivered the letters to the legislators.
The letter read in part, “We demand a change in course… Our faith traditions and federal constitution all testify to the immorality of an economy that leaves out the poor, yet our political discourses consistently ignore the 140 million poor and low-income people in America.”
The letters also made clear that unless direct actions are taken immediately to address these chronic problems, there would be visible consequences in the way of a massive wave of Nonviolent Civil Disobedience, that the Poor People’s Campaign will initiate on Mother’s Day, May 12, 2018 and continuing for forty days.
This Poor People’s Campaign and National Call for Moral Revival will sweep the nation this spring, including Alabama if the conditions of poor people are not radically changed. In the words of Carolyn Foster, chair of the state PPC committee, “We have come to say clearly that a politics that ignores the poor has gone on far too long, and we will not be silent anymore.”
For more information and how to get involved go to:
By Ariel Worthy
