Rural Reflection Conference

April 2010

10 students attended the WSU Horizons Rural Reflections Conference held in Moses Lake. Students attended a variety of workshops and meetings dealing with a variety of subjects including youth entrepreneurship, talks about the growing Hispanic Community; youth and adult partnerships; fundraising and boardsmanship; and how to use Grantstation (a grant finding database). Youth took the opportunity to network with other community members and truly show that youth are able to be a difference in their community when given the opportunity to try.

Engaging Youth, Serving Community Grant

May 2010

In partnership with the 4-H program the group will be participating in a new EYSC (Engaging Youth, Serving Community) to continue their work, giving the group additional training, funding and resources to continue their work in youth violence for the next 1 to 3 years. Included in this will be a Girls Self Defense and Date Rape Course (in Partnership with Sunnyside Police Department), Girls Sexual Assault Training (in partnership with the Grant County Domestic Violence), and Youth anti-Bullying and Gang prevention training (in partnership with Grant County Sheriff’s Office and Mattawa Police Department). Initial training will begin on a three (May 21 -23) retreat to be held at Silverlake Camp near Medical Lake. The Retreat will cover the following subjects to prepare the 12 students and 4 adults who will be attending the retreat, or the upcoming year.
• Youth Adult Partnerships
• Diversity/Inclusion
• Meeting Facilitation
• Issue Discovery
• Framing & Community Capitals
• Convening
• Action Planning
• Forum Planning
• Practice Forums
• Evaluation

LEAP Conference

February 2010

Six members of La Vozes group attended the Latino Educational Achievement Project (LEAP). Attending various workshops with the goal that “all students will graduate from high school with the skills, acknowledged and confidence needed for success in post secondary education or in today’s information age and technology-driven workplace”. LEAP activities included:
•A legislative Day
•Student Leadership forums
•Public Education Workshops
•Advocating at the State Legislatures
•Educating and Advising Students how to create change in their communities using local government channels.

Good by Mr Martinez

One of our best has left us for a new place and a new position. Mr Martinez has gone to Pasco HS. He will now teach and inspire a new group of students in a new location, but he will always be remember here, with us, in our hearts.

He was our teacher, our mentor, our counselor. He believed in us and was there for us when others wouldn't stand by us. When we needed him he became our shoulder to cry on, our chauffer, our chaperone, but mostly our friend. He will be missed, and we await the day when he returns to teach us once more.

4-H Teen Conferance

Fourteen students participated in the Washington State 4-H Teen Conferance, from June 28 to June 30. Classes included subject matters varing from wind, solar and hydropower to teen entrepenership. Local Horizons Coach Tony Garcia was on hand to give a presentation on Alternative Financing to Your Education.

Student Cultural Exchange

La Voz de Los Jovenes was invited to attend a 2-day student culutrual exchange with some youth from Eqaudor at Washington State University in Pullman. Six students from the program were selected to represent Wahluke High School and meet with the equador students to discuss poverty and what it looks like, what can be done and how to find some common ground to dealing with poverty issues even from across the world.

During the workshop students were given the chance to particiapte in a wall climbing exercise, some were more than happy to particpate, some were happy to provide the much needed encouragment and moral support.

Part of the workshops was to teach students abouts creating documentaries.

Community Gang Awerness Seminar

The Horizons Program, Voz de Los Jovenes and the Wahluke School District sponosred an evening workshop to inform the community on the growing gang problems and what parents and other community members should look for and whay they can do to help in the preventiatve efforts to stem the growing problem.

Nearly 200 community members were in attendance.

Leadership Plenty Facilitator Training

Cesar Martinez (Staff Advisor) and a group of 5 students particiapted in the Leadership Plenty Facilitor Training;

Pictured (Left to Right):

Study Circles

After completion of the facilitator training and the several community meeting the following action items were identified:

• Establishment of a Horizons Club at the Wahluke High School
• Improve and/or increase local Public Transportation
• Increase the understanding that higher education plays in reducing poverty, and how it can be accessed
• Increase participation in local governmental agencies by youth.
• Increase knowledge of the gang presence (and preventative measures) to the community
• Increase knowledge of how parent can access local educational establishment.
• Increase community knowledge of existing social service programs and how to better access their services
• Increase the communities knowledge and prevention efforts in teen pregnancy, domestic violence and other factors that contribute to generational poverty.
• Increase the knowledge and provide the skills that help in the communities grant writing and fundraising efforts to increase community sustainability.

Message to the Community

Why a Youth Project?

True poverty reduction must start in the hearts and minds of the people who live it day-to-day. But to truly maintain long term poverty reduction we must reach youth. It is there that we will end the cycle of generational poverty, it is there that we must plant the idea that a life without poverty is truly achievable. We always tell youth that the future is theirs - what we are doing with a youth project is exactly that - we are giving them the training, the skills and the desire to change their future and that of their community.

- Tony Garcia
- Horizons Community Coach

Leadership Labels

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