Day 1 - Monday 11th March

 

The view from my hotel room yesterday afternoon

We arrived safely to beautiful blue skies in Philadelphia yesterday (yes folks, when there’s no rain/ snow/ cloud, apparently the sky is blue – novel concept eh) and got ourselves settled in eating at a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner.  Today I have thoroughly enjoyed our first proper day of the AMBIT programme with our visits to the Welcoming Center, YES Philly, and Congreso where we also heard about MIMIC.

The Welcoming Centre, based in Philly’s city-centre, does an impressive amount of work with people who are new to the city and surrounding counties, supporting immigrants in their search for employment and equipping them with the right skills (language, soft skills, cultural awareness etc) to succeed in the American workplace as well as providing support with legal services.  In 2012 they helped more than 200 people from over 140 countries gain employment.  We admired the way in which they have become the ‘go-to’ place for new Americans in starting their new life in the States.

At YESPhilly we all got the chance to go into some classes and chat to some of the students about the programme they do there.  Young people who have dropped out of school and don’t have a high school diploma can enrol at YESPhilly to get their ‘GED’ qualification – essential to gain access to employment opportunities.  40% of young people in the Philiadelphia school district don’t graduate from high school and many end up getting involved in gang violence and consequently the criminal justice system.  At YESPhilly, which is located in a fairly tough neighbourhood north of the city-centre, the students do academic work in the morning then media arts sessions in the afternoons where the focus is on telling their stories and finding their voice creatively.  I loved the various pieces of artwork created by students which were on display on the walls.  Our conversations with the young people gave us a sense of what the programme means for them, how it helps them pursue their hopes and aspirations and how they value this alternative approach to education.

North-east of the city centre is the base for Congreso, a multi-service organisation that works with the Latino community on education, social, health and economic projects.  On the drive to their offices it was clear that the area suffers deprivation at a severe level – in the windows of some corner shops there were signs stating, ‘Food stamps accepted here,’ and we learned that this is the 10^th poorest congressional district in the USA.  Congreso is sizeable in terms of outreach – in 2012 they worked with 14,000 clients, and they are doing some significant work with young people in terms of education and also ‘work-readiness’.

The view towards Philly's city-centre from the 5th floor of Congreso's building

Our final presentation of the day was from Edwin Desamour, who has a remarkable story to tell about his own transformation and about how MIMIC – Men in Motion in the Community – came into being.  MIMIC works with young people who are marginalised through mentoring-based support in order to reduce involvement in violence and the criminal justice system.  Many of the MIMIC mentors are themselves ex-offenders who seek to model alternative choices to gang-based lifestyles.

Lots to get the neurons firing up today and it’s only Monday!