Bringing Out the Best in Adolescents: Grant Recipients Present Successful Results
Bringing Out the Best in Adolescents: Grant Recipients Present Successful Results
The USF Collaborative for Children, Families and Communities awards grants each year to USF faculty members who work with community partners on projects that address important issues relating to children and adolescents. Several projects recently completed show how the university and community can successfully work together for the good of these young people and their families.
West Tampa Youth Serve as Ambassadors for Change in Their Neighborhood
Building on current initiatives that reveal engaging youth in the economic recovery of an area is essential for building community capacity and improving neighborhoods, a collaboration between the West Tampa Community Development District and several departments from USF investigated what youth from that area need in order to be prepared for economic self-sufficiency. The Building Alliances: Engaging Youth in Creating Formal Entrepreneurial Activities project conducted focus groups with 41 youth between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, all having lived in the West Tampa area for most of their lives. They provided input about the perception of the West Tampa area, employment goals, local economic support and development, and impact of family and friends.
“Throughout the focus groups, these youth seem poised to be engaged in helping the community redevelop their economic and business capital,” said Sondra J. Fogel, PhD, USF School of Social Work Associate Professor. Based on the youth input, the following recommendations were made:
- Develop a summer youth employment program run out of the West Tampa CDC. The CDC is positioned to take a leadership role in this program. Building on continued success with adult business development programs and growing computer resources, the CDC can serve as a one stop coordinating and training center for youth to learn how to work and/or participate in community volunteer activities.
- Develop apprenticeship opportunities and partnerships with businesses from the West Tampa Chamber of Commerce. The use of apprenticeship programs has historically increased employment opportunities for immigrant populations. More efforts are needed to engage youth in skills that will promote economic independence and an appreciation of the workings of the economy.
- Seize on the strengths of youth. Many of these youth want to help their parents, their community, and be involved in creating change. Not unaware of the negative image the West Tampa area has, these young adults want to be ambassadors for change in the neighborhood. Often left with little to do and few places to go, these community residents feel left out and isolated from activities that could promote the economic and social health in the area.
- Adults in the community need to demonstrate to the youth that they are serious about combating the drugs and crime in the area. Youth want the adults to show leadership and perseverance to rid their area of influences that even the youth recognize, which continues to promote a cycle of poverty and hardship that they want to break away from.
Quite a bit has already been accomplished. Six youth who participated in the focus groups have agreed to take the lead to form a Youth Advisory Committee to the West Tampa CDC.
“The support for this work has started to create change in the community,” added Fogel. “Youth are getting involved, the West Tampa CDC is growing and incorporating the ideas of youth in its vision for economic and social recovery of the area, collaboration with the East Tampa CDC is growing, and at least one local business has already indicated a willingness to partner with the CDC and the youth.”
Music and Youth = Diversion from Crime
USF professor Jean Calandra said that she had never experienced such excitement over an approaching event as she did the first public performance of the USF DIME Project (Diversion into Music Education). The project, aimed to enhance the outcomes of youth referred through the court systems, provided incarcerated youth, as well as youth on diversion programs, with regular group music tuition and performing opportunities.
And when asked how they could apply what they learned about themselves to their actions/behaviors in the future, this is what several of the students said:
“I learned about responsibility. If I forget my lines the whole story is a mess. That means that everyone looks stupid. If I learn my lines I can be proud of myself. And I never thought I could do this. But now I know I can because I tried it and I succeeded.”
“I discovered that I am good at showing feeling in a play. Maybe this is something I can use when I get angry. I can think I am a character that never gets angry. And then I won’t get in trouble again.”
Partnering with the Youth Services of Hillsborough County School District, in cooperation with the principal and staff of the Hillsborough Group Treatment Home I and II in Seffner, the DIME Project provided instruction in African marimba and drums by USF professor and director of the project Dr. Shelia Woodward, storytelling and communication arts by USF Pre-college and Community Outreach Director Jean Calandra, and expressive movement by USF student Sharon Joller.
Two additional USF students were recruited from the Department of Criminology and the Department of Psychology to serve as mentors in the program. They arranged and took part in activities with the youth, such as games, physical recreation or art, and during these sessions, they facilitated discussions about the DIME program, and many aspects of the youths' lives.
The dual focus on teaching and mentoring was designed to ensure that the youth benefited from the acquisition of musical skills and improved social skills within the band setting, but also from family, school and social interactions. The project also offered students intercultural exposure aimed at developing tolerance and appreciation for other cultures.
Calandra described the second performance, scheduled during the fifth anniversary celebration of the USF Collaborative for Children, Families and Communities, as one in which the students’ levels of confidence was higher and their poise and physical expression on stage was impressive. “After each of these events audience members made an effort to congratulate individuals and the ensemble as a whole. This is the kind of recognition these boys need in their lives. They worked very hard to achieve a quality performance level. They knew the effort was great, and chances are, they will associate hard work with personal success in their future endeavors,” she said.
Although the DIME project has ended successfully, the staff continues to provide an outreach project, volunteering their hours working with the boys, some who are new to the program. Under the direction of Calandra, story telling, theatre and dance programs have been incorporated into the outreach project.
“While the work I have done uses storytelling, dramatizations and movement as tools for learning in the context of the group process, I would say our focus has been on strengthening interpersonal and intrapersonal communication,” added Calandra. She also said that she is particularly interested in the positive impact this approach to leaning can have on the individual. The strengthening of communication skills in youth can help them to:
- Learn how to develop healthy, satisfying relations with peers, teachers, family and members of their community,
- Develop tools for expressing and managing stresses of daily living,
- Develop critical thinking and decision making skills; and,
- Respond to communication arts activities that stimulate intellectual curiosity and activate human potential.
A video documentary that captures the experience of these youth and their teachers in the DIME project is currently being produced by the USF Educational Outreach Department.
The project members hope to eventually accommodate all of the approximately 3000 children sentenced to diversion programs in Hillsborough County as well as the approximately 300 incarcerated children.
“It is intended that the project will eventually attract large-scale funding from State, National and International Foundations so that the programs can be expanded to employ full time staff on a long-term basis, to include greater numbers of youth, more facets of the arts, and a more multicultural program,” said Shelia Woodward. For additional information, contact Woodward at woodward@arts.usf.edu, 813-974-0446, or Jean Calandra at 813-974-5146.
The Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS) is a department of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida. The faculty and staff of CFS are committed to enhancing the development, mental health and well-being of children and families through leadership in integrating research, theory & practice.