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Youth Rights Media

Posted by Aldon Hynes on April 29, 2005 - 8:57am.

I joined the DeStefano campaign for many reasons. I like his policies and the way he has thought them out. I like his willingness to engage in dialog about what is best for New Haven and for Connecticut. I like his willingness to explore new media to get the message across, and I like his call on all of us to expect more of ourselves and our state. Yesterday, I received an email from Fernando J. Muñiz of the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance about the film, CJT$: At What Cost? The film was produced by Youth Rights Media.

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“Youth Rights Media’s work is grounded in the belief that youth who have been marginalized, stigmatized, and disregarded by the justice system — and the public at large — have the potential to become committed, focused and passionate leaders. In order to create transformative leadership opportunities for these traditionally disengaged youth, YRM engages youth in video media production and community organizing so that young people are equipped with tools, skills, and strategies for affecting change within themselves, their communities, and Connecticut’s deeply troubled juvenile justice system.”

To see what happens when you give people a chance and expect more of them, I strongly encourage you to attend a free open air showing of their film Thursday May 5, 7 PM in the parking lot between 900 and 924 Grand Avenue in New Haven.

Comments

This sounds amazing. It is my deep hope that we, both in our state and our country, can move past a culture of punishment toward one of affording opportunities and rehabilitation for our disenfranchised and poor who disproportunately populate our prisons amd juvenile detention centers.

Posted by political babe on April 29, 2005 - 9:31am.

House approves CT Minimum Wage hike! $7.40/hr in 2006, and $7.65/hr in 2007. (which will hopefully keep pace with inflation...)

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-minwage0429.artapr29,0,7613793.story?coll=hc-headlines-local

I'm sure the Senate will vote similarly. Any bets as to what the un-elected Gov. Rell will do?

Posted by TrueBlue on April 29, 2005 - 11:26am.

Rell will hopefully go with the flow on the minimum wage. More surprising and dissapointing is that she hasn't made its passage a priority. Which again demonstrates her lack of leadership.

As for YRM...I actually saw the documentary about CJTS and found it very moving. I look forward to hearing more from Aldon and the DeStefano team about their plans to make the quality of life for all of Connecticut's children better, especially those kids living in families that are working but not getting by.

Thomas Friedman had a great piece in the NY Times about how our youth are economically falling behind with their competitors across the globe. How will a Governor DeStefano leverage his position of power so that Connecticut's children go to schools that truly prepare them for a global economy? How will he create a social investment structure that encourages entrepreneurial risk-taking by creating a baseline of economic security if one tries?

Posted by netim on April 29, 2005 - 2:36pm.
Hi Netim! Your comments about the need for us to create a social investment structure around youth is completely on the mark and I could not agree with them more.

It is the most important thing government can do for people and the Mayor's committment to youth issues is one of the reasons I work for him.

Connecticut is so disturbing because it fails to do even the basics. Forget about after-school programs, college, summer jobs or college tuition--the state of CT won't even pay its share for K-12 education. It ranks 44th among all 50 states in how much the state pays for education as a share of personal income.

Despite the fact that we are the second wealthiest state in the country per capita, states like Georgia and Oklahoma have far more aggressive and advanced early education programs than we do. It's easy to talk early education--what politician doesn't? It's another thing to do it, and no one in Connecticut has despite the fact that it is the single most critical thing our government can do to ensure that all children have the opporuntiies they deserve to achieve their potential and make their dreams come true. Whether you the John DeStefano talk to business executives, a Democratic Town Committee or fellow Mayors, I promise you will here him talk about his committment to make sure that every child in Connecticut comes to kindergarten ready to learn.

In New Haven, his leadership and committment to this issue has resulted in the number of children in kindergarten with an early childhood experience going from 45 to 75 percent over the past decade with very very little funding from the state appropriated to this goal. What little funding has existed was cut during over the past couple years, crushing nascent programs.

Tuition at our public universities and colleges has gone up by over 50 percent in the last 5 years. Urban areas receive completely inadequate state funding for innovative youth intervention, after-school programs or summer employment despite rising rates of juvenile incarceration.

The reality of Two Connecticuts underscores the need for aggressive government programs to ensure equal opprortunties for all of Connecticut's youth. That reality remains so entirely elusive to us. The lack of jobs, supportive programs and basic education for youth ENSURES that the status quo--one of every increasing income inequity--will continue. That is totally unacceptable. We don't have all of the specifics of our youth agenda together by any means at all--but these are some of the issues that are most important to the Mayor.

Posted by Shonu Gandhi on April 29, 2005 - 3:06pm.

What we absolutely need in Connecticut - and elsewhere - is universal preschool. It is well documented that children that attend preschool do much better (regardless of family income level) in kindergarten and beyond than children who do not have this opportunity. We also need to support families so that they can be involved in their children's schooling. We need to find and keep motivated teachers who have not already lost heart in an imperfect system. If we can accomplish this, we will see our prison populatons falling dramitically 15 - 20 years down the road . . .

Posted by political babe on April 30, 2005 - 9:24am.

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