We have started off the programming year with a bang! Beginning with our orientation retreat in August, we welcomed new eleventh grade fellows into the Fellowship and twelfth grade Bridgers into their second year. Fellows and Bridgers have been busy attending skill-building sessions, committee meetings, hearing from our alumni, and joining together for team building and bonding activities. Read more below and check out some photo highlights of the year so far!
THE BEGINNING OF MY YOUTHBRIDGE CHAPTER
By Charmel Apilan
I am extremely thrilled to be a part of the new generation of the rising YouthBridge Fellows. From orientation to the first committee workshop, YouthBridge has definitely exceeded my expectations. As I set foot into the space for orientation, I was ecstatic to view a room full of diversity and amicable faces. Within those walls, was an environment of no judgement and acceptance. In the span of five hours, my peers and I were given the opportunity to connect and break down the barriers that made us strangers. Personally, my favorite activity that was done was “Step into the Circle.” This exercise created a sense of vulnerability and empathy. We would stand in a circle as one of our instructors would announce a statement that represents a part of one’s identity. If the statement applied to you, you would simply step forward. There was no verbal communication, except for the instructor announcing the statement. We communicated through movement and observation. The motive for “Step into the Circle” was to acknowledge each other’s differences, accept each other’s identity, and claim our own. It exemplified the reality of the fact that each individual has different encounters and experiences based on various factors such as race, gender, religion, etc. It was undeniably an awakening process. Sometimes, you forget the reality of the world, in which you need a wake-up call. You forget to humble yourself and appreciate your possessions because the truth is you may have more privilege than someone, but then someone else has more privilege than you.
As my YouthBridge chapter is just beginning, I intend to expand my knowledge on injustice with the help of YouthBridge mentors, discover my pathway into becoming the best as I can be, and improve my actions to become a torchbearer for those whom I surround myself with. I was taught to not educate people on the realities of life because it is not up to you on how someone else perceives the world. However that may be true, I hope to be a factor of guidance that helps, whomever it may be, understand the ability of being woke and how that power can improve our far future.
MAKING THE CHANGES WE NEED TO SEE TODAY
By Daniella Sanchez-Barillas
At the skill-building session at Project Reach, I had no idea what to expect. Yet somehow, that meeting exceeded all expectations. I walked into a big room with chairs sitting in a circle and realized how many kids just like me wanted to be involved in the ways I did. The room slowly began to fill and we soon began introductions: name, pronouns, age, and why we joined. And as we went in a circle telling little snippets about us, I came to the realization that if all institutions, and if all people were as inclusive and welcoming as YouthBridge very visibly was, then the world would be a much better place. And being there was one step closer to reaching that goal.
We were soon separated into groups and instructed to pick 10 out of 14 people that would be allowed onto a boat, with 15 minutes to decide. With this, we sifted through the 14 cards representing a person, a life, and one word that gives some entail to who they are. By the end of those 15 minutes, we gathered around and presented who were the 4 that would have to be off the boat and why. The results were somewhat consistent. And with this, Don, who facilitated this meeting at Project Reach, opened our eyes to our own blindness by giving us some very simple facts and a very personal perspective. He reminded us that the instructions themselves didn't say explicitly that we needed to kick people off the boat, and that even so, just because they were kicked off the boat didn't mean they would die.
Later he divulged the fact that had he been in that exact situation, he himself would have been kicked off the boat several times. And the deeper we went into that conversation, the more we learned that we probably wouldn't have let that person be 1 of the 4 to go. That clear representation of ignorance showed just how similar this was to the world we live in, and that the prestigious programs and associations that work with youth that are making the changes we need to see today.
Moreover, YouthBridge made it clear that I, and all kids, are needed. The discussions we had about minorities, about our future, and about us as kids, were a necessary step to our overall and well-rounded perspective on our society. This meeting at Project Reach taught us that we are the future and we have the chance to shape our world for the better and eliminate the oppression and discrimination of minority groups that have been enduring such things for centuries. That simple boat activity portrayed how the solution to a problem can be fixed just by observing the roots of how it started.
DIVERSITY, DISCRIMINATION, BIASES, DISPARITIES — WHAT WE’RE LEARNING
By Oscar Zheng
Our first skill-building workshop was at Project Reach, where we did the Boat Exercise. Since then, I’ve felt like it changed my perspective on diversity and discrimination. One of the things that stood out to me was when Don asked us how to respond to a person discriminating against people of color and other minority groups. We responded with “educate” or “cancel” them. However, the solution was to ask the right questions, which would be more effective in comparison to violence. This strategy was what I took away most because it’s so simple, yet extremely effective. I think about this in my Healthcare Disparities Committee, where we focus on researching healthcare disparities within this extraordinarily diverse NYC and finding ways to close this gap.
In our first committee meeting, we discussed factors that contribute to healthcare disparities such as poverty, unequal access to healthcare, poor environmental conditions, education inequalities, and language barriers. We also listed and discussed which groups of people are more likely to face discrimination. These issues exist on a bigger scale, but we assessed the health and safety of our schools within a smaller community. Compared with the results of other YouthBridge Fellows, there is a clear difference between schools in different areas of NYC. We then went on to discuss why we think this difference exists and these activities felt like a good start to becoming more aware of these gaps.
In our second meeting, we saw these gaps in healthcare on a much bigger scale. We watched a video of groups of people in Thailand sharing their experiences and voices about facing discrimination in healthcare. That video gave us more insight into healthcare disparities around the world and how similar or different it is compared to our community. We also looked at statistics and dove into the past to search for some of the roots of these problems. In the speech given by famous women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth, she broke through the stereotypes of women only being a housewife and that they need assistance from men for strenuous tasks like getting into carriages. This ties to healthcare because the presence of stereotypes directly contributes to healthcare inequalities within a targeted community. It’s our job to clear those stereotypes and to bridge the gap between targeted communities and those that aren’t.
As a YouthBridge-NY Fellow, I feel like my mind has been positively altered in a way that allowed me to become more self-aware and understanding of diversity, biases, discrimination, and disparities within healthcare. In the upcoming meetings, I’m interested in learning about solutions that could reduce some of the issues in my community. I’m also curious about the root of these problems and perhaps going back in history might provide more insight about it.