Voices of the Summer Institute participants

This is what the youth this summer thought of the program:

"I am grateful for having the opportunity to work and learn with a team and share our ideas with each other. I am grateful to have learned more about our climate, pollution, asthma and the uneven distribution of resources between zip codes in the Bay Area and California."

– Cynthia Chavez

“I’m grateful for everything! The food, the staff and the fieldtrips! I loved the field trips! They were always fun and informative. I really liked that we got to go outside and practice hands on learning on our fieldtrips. I learned Oakland was not as bad as I thought it was. There is subtle beauty hidden in my city.”
– Angelina Li

“I am grateful to have learned about the environment. I never knew so much about my environment until I got into this program. The summer program also got me to step out of my shell, speaking out more and being less shy.

I think we should interview people from the street and tell them about how they can make the changes they want to see in their community to make their vision of a better neighborhood come to life.”

– Brenda Barron

“I’m grateful for being in this program and interacting with a lot of different people. I liked being shown things like super fund sites, the Chevron oil refinery, the Eco-Center and wetlands in the Bay Area.”

– Tanika O’Guinn

"I am grateful for the learning experience through the sustainability education taught by the New Voices Are Rising program.

One thing that could be improved is the amount of hours in the program. I want more hours!"

-Stephen Vance

(We are always working to secure more funding...maybe next year!)

“I am grateful for having learned during the summer program about the different ways to help/save my community and city, the different types of negative impacts of climate change and global warming and the different effects of pollution.”

- Priscilla Seng

“I am grateful for learning about the organization of local governments and how it relates to policy.” – Euchari Murray-Graham

“What was surprising was how much I enjoyed myself. I didn’t think that it would be boring, but it was just a whole lot more fun than I thought. I was surprised that I could open up to so many new people.

I’m grateful for being in this program. The internship with the Rose Foundation and New Voices are Rising was way better than I expected. I learned a lot about my community’s health and how the area you live in can affect your health.”- Amy Wong

“Being a part of the New Voices are Rising was a great experience and provided me with information to make the world healthier! This program is something everyone needs to take action to be a part of. Learning about pollution, health, water and housing issues were just some of the topics we covered. New Voices taught me that we need to stand united as a community and fix these big environmental issues!”

– Taylor Murray

“Why should we do something about helping our planet? Because we live here and its our home. It provides us with the resources we need to live.” – Quailyn Scott

Meet Tanika!

Tanika
Age 17
Oakland Tech High School Student

I really like drawing and writing stories. It helps me feel more creative and like I'm not entirely obsessed with technology. It gives me an independent feeling and I'm pretty content drawing and writing by myself.

I originally joined the NVR program for the work experience. I didn't know I'd be working to help the environment until I went to the orientation. I'm glad I could work with this program because of the progress I'm making toward learning about the environment, my community, and meeting new people.

New Voices are Rising Summer Advocacy Training Institute 2011 is here!!

The first week of the program is underway and we've got a lively and dedicated group of young scholars again this year! We want you to get to know them, so we are profiling about 2 students each week.






Meet Prescilla Seng
Age: 17
School: Oakland Technical High School



One thing you can't tell about me from looking at me is: I took Samba for 3 years in middle school.

If you really knew me you would know: that I am goofy and hyper with a beautiful personality.

Why I joined this program: I want to better the environment in my own way, so I want to explore a wide range of ways to do this. I also want to broaden my knowledge and experience.

Meet Euchari Murray-Graham
Age: 17
School: Oakland Technical High School






One thing you can't tell from looking at me is: that I am a classically trained singer. If you really knew me you would know: that I never stop talking or joking.

I joined the Rose Foundation's summer program to gain valuable work experience and to do my best to help the local community.

Youth Speak Out!

On December 17, 2010, high school students from Oakland and Richmond attended a California Air Resources Board meeting to voice their support of strong diesel rules to protect public health. These are responses from the students on their experiences as youth advocates.

Going to the CARB meeting was pretty good because we got to hear other people point of views and they also got to hear ours. Knowing that I was one of the few young people made me feel special because not a lot of young people get to do what we did. At first, I was shocked to see people's reactions but then I thought about it and got in their shoes to see their point of view. I felt
pretty good about the speech that I presented. I felt that I actually showed my
point of view and I felt that I made them think, at least just a little about what they are doing. Some positive stuff would probably be that everybody got to
hear what we had to say and what we felt that needed to change. We had a really fun time and we let our voice get heard.

Jessica O

I think the California air board resources meeting was a really important place
because their decision was a very important decision...I think knowing
that we are the only young adults in the audience was really important because
that showed that we really care about the environment and that we really care
about their decision but I know that didn't really matter because they still
made their decision, but I think it still made a difference. I think what was positive about the trip is
that everybody was really friendly to each other and nobody made a negative comment.

Segun B.

I felt excited on our way to the California Air Resources Board Hearing because I felt that there was going to be a lot of different people talking about their opinion on the diesel trucks. Even though there weren't as many people as I thought there would be, their speeches were very powerful. It made me feel important to know that I was one of the few people in the audience because it shows that I really do care about our air and about people's health. When I was hearing the people's speech it made me feel happy when they were saying that the diesel trucks should go or do something to prevent diseases. I was also happy when I started hearing women were speaking. I saw the other side of the problem when I was listening to the workers (truck drivers) speeches, I understood that some didn't have money to make the changes. I believe that the workers should also get some kind of profit when they change their old trucks to new. The positives about this experience were that I got to understand a lot of different opinions on the problem. I also got to learn a lot about the diesel trucks. Getting to hear about the important people was an experience that I wont forget. One thing that could be improved is if we would have had more time to hear the speech of more people.

Anabel F.

Going to the meeting in Sacramento was scary, yet exhilerating. I did not realize how many people were going to be at the meeting and I also did not realize that YCA would be the only youth group there. That made me a little hesitant because I felt like our opinions would be either tossed to the side or ignored all together. Surprisingly, our words were heard throughout California and was printed in newspapers statewide! I felt like the hearing was just one step to changing the environment because many people were there that opposed the new amendments and others wanted to comply with the rules but needed assistance in order to do so. I felt great about the speech I gave because not only did it contain ethos, but a large amount of pathos. I felt that the trip helped others see the issues in front of them and I feel like change is in our future.

Kami B.