Youth

RAZAS UNITED YOUTH GROUP

    Razas United is the name of the youth group created by the Hispanic American Council. Razas United, has been meeting since November 2008.  At that time the group consisted of about 12 kids.  The kids would meet at the council after school two days a week. They would discuss what was going on in their lifes, education and they would work on different activities.  On January 2009, was when the concept of the group became organized out on paper with thoughts on what the Hispanic American Council wanted to accomplish. The youth directors decided on a basic curriculum that would best benefit the youth.  On February 2009 the group designated Tuesday and Thursday afternoons after school to meet.

                                                                  This group of young people currently run their meetings on the Council's facility.  Razas United’s number of participants have swelled from 10 to about 80 young people of different ethnic backgrounds, ages, schools and family backgrounds.  Razas United have participants ranging from ages 10 to 26.  The after-school meetings consist of group discussions, team-building activities, journaling, guest speaker presentations, arts and crafts and project planning.  Lori Mercedes, Program Coordinator oversees the group in collaboration with the group leaders, Ricardo Zuniga, Estevan Juarez and Harmony Durden.  Our team meets with the youths after group sessions, providing thoughts and suggestions on the group’s ideas and project planning, job shadowing opportunities and mentoring them on the inner workings of the Council and the networking opportunities with other organizations and institutions in the Kalamazoo area.

The Youth Group Leaders and Support Group

                                                     Estevan, Ricardo,  and Harmony facilitate the weekly after-school meetings together.  All three are soon to be college students who live on the Southside of Kalamazoo and are volunteering their time to give back to the community.  They also are instrumental in reaching out to and meeting with other community leaders, organizers and institutions, such as the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, WMU, City Commissioner Don Cooney, Hispanic American Council Board Member, Eileen Stryker and Diana Hernandez Board President, ISAAC and the Boys and Girls Club of Kalamazoo among others in an effort to implement and execute fundraising projects and other community service activities. The three youth leaders have taken advantage of opportunities to learn from and be mentored by different business professionals in Kalamazoo in different fields of expertise, university professors, community organizers and entrepreneurs.

   A primary component of the youth group is trauma/recovery support group sessions run by the Hispanic American Council board member Lizette Mira – Amaya and Sister Rose Mary of the Dioceses of Kalamazoo. Lizette facilitates group discussions and activities to help the youth deal with and overcome issues and obstacles that have impacted their lives in a negative way.

RAZAS UNITED EVENTS

Guest Speakers

On May 2009, Juan Pacheco from Barrios Unidos, a well renowned community activist and youth advocator from Virginia (who is a former gang member) came to Kalamazoo and spoke to the youth at Maple Street Magnet School, Kalamazoo Central High School and the youth group of the Council.  Others who have come as guest presenters have been Kalamazoo Public Safety officers; Dr. Michael Rice, the Superintendent of Kalamazoo Public Schools Kevin Smith, a former gang leader in Southside Chicago and Media Consultant Debra Warfield.  On July 2009, with the support from the Arcus foundation, 11 members of Razas United accompanied members of the (Interfaith Strategy for Advocacy and Action in the Community) ISAAC organization to New York to participate in an intense community organizing training.  Upon their return to Kalamazoo their experiences were covered by the Kalamazoo Gazette.

National Night Out

     Razas United worked with Public Safety to host a National Night Out event where the people of the Edison Neighborhood were able to interact with officers and see displays and exhibits brought by the bomb squad, the fire dept. and many others.  At this event there was a particular officer who saw Estevan Juarez- one of our youth leader participating at this event- and heard of all the positive things he was involved;in and how Estevan has turned his life around.  This officer couldn’t believe the change in Estevan, because he remembered Estevan as a teenage terror on the streets.  The officer congratulated him on his successful turnaround.

 Edison Hoops

    Razas United worked in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Club and City Commissioner Don Cooney on the Friday night Edison Summer hoops project (which will taked place again this comming summer)reaching out to local male youth in the Edison neighborhood to get them off of the streets.  This is a 3-on-3 hoops league with two age groupings; ages 12 – 14 and 15 -20.  There was about 75 young men participated. Both facilities of the Hispanic American Council and Boys and Girls Club were used to host this project - that spanned over the course of eight weeks.  There were no entry fees and prizes were awarded to the two teams that finished with the best records. 

DANCE GROUP

  Youth Leader Harmony Durden is working with the Council board member, Eileen Stryker, teaching dance to girls 18 and under. They teach latin stule dances such as: merengue, salsa, bachata and many others. The girls have progressed and the group keeps growing.

Razas United is providing an outlet for youth to learn more about themselves as individuals, the world and the community in which they live.  They advocate the study of different cultures, trades, careers, art forms and the importance of education and taking advantage of the Kalamazoo Promise for those students that are eligible.  Razas United also actively supports all their members who are involved in other clubs/after-school programs at their school, school athletics, performance arts, etc.