MissionSAFE Happenings!!
MissionSAFE welcomes Alex Danesco as full-time Development Director beginning August 2012. Mr. Danesco was CEO of Commonwealth Tenants Association (CTA) in Allston/Brighton for the last 9 years and built high quality programs for youth in the former Fidelis Way. Under his direction, CTA accessed funding from private foundations, public sources, and developed relationships with individuals and corporations who came to support CTA's work. According to Executive Director, Nikki Flionis: "Alex comes with a deep knowledge of the young people with whom MissionSAFE works and the many issues they face. He will add a new layer of expertise to the team and focus full-time on sustainability of MissionSAFE programming."
YLSC Summer of Service and Leadership Internship Presentations-August 16!!
MIssionSAFE youth and staff invite you to join us at Simmons College on August 16th from 5-7 p.m. for our annual summer presentations by MissionSAFE youth of their summer internships and career explorations. MissionSAFE youth this summer worked at the State House, various Boston hospitals, studied poetry, nutrition and fitness, taught and mentored younger youth and will talk about their experiences and present their work. This is a good opportunity to see MissionSAFE's work firsthand and to meet some of the supervisors who work with our youth. Refreshments will be a scrumptious homemade "soul food" banquet of mac and cheese, chicken, collards, corn bread, rice and beans, pastelitos and banana pudding. What better way to begin to wrap up summer and celebrate the accomplishments of 90 Boston youth.
Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Paretsky Conference Room, 3rd Floor East. Please RSVP at info@missionsafe.org if you need a parking pass for Simmon's underground parking garage.
With Appreciation!!!
To the City of Boston, Boston Youth Fund and ABCD for helping MissionSAFE to employ over 90 youth this summer at MissionSAFE in enriching internships that introduced young people to a variety of careers, skills and disciplines!
To Appalachian Mountain Club/Youth Opportunities Program for a chance to bring MissionSAFE young people repeatedly camping, hiking, swimming and boating in the White Mountains, Blue Hill and western Massachusetts!
To Huntington Theatre Company for allowing MissionSAFE youth to experience live theatre, particularly through the plays of August Wilson and Kristen Greenidge!
To Museum of Fine Arts, Institute of Contemporary Art and New England Aquarium for continuous--fun and engaging--learning experiences!
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MissionSAFE Teens find Poetry is Powerful
Become Published Writers
Mission Hill -Youth from MissionSAFE Roxbury’s YLSC Summer Internship program are becoming published poets. For six weeks this summer, youth worked fifteen hours each week in an intensive and interactive exploration of poetry, personal expression and performance. The resulting works will be published in book form by the end of August.
Conducted by MissionSAFE staff, Lissa Piercy, the internship was titled “Express Yourself” and met at Simmons College, which hosts MissionSAFE’s summer programming. In workshops with Lissa and visiting writers such as poet David McLaughlin Blair, the group learned about various types and characteristics of poetry and developed their poems individually and in groups. A unique component of this process was peer review, through which the students served as instructors to help each other to improve their poems. A second component of the program was the chance to read their poetry in front of professional writers.
The project participants will compile and edit their poems for publication as well as help in design of the book. Printing costs will be covered by PEN New England’s Book Builders project.
One participant raved about the program: “I learned that poems aren’t just a bunch of words that may or may not rhyme, but are actually very intelligent stories that can speak on a day or even one’s life. Poetry is also a great way to express or release feelings without being judged or laughed at. I love it and I am glad to have had this opportunity.”
Another added “I came in expressing myself physically, I left expressing myself vocally and mentally.”
Members of the group will read on August 16 between 5 and 7 p.m. at Simmons College Paretsky Conference Center, 300 The Fenway, and will see their work published as a result of a partnership between MissionSAFE and PEN New England.
“Express Yourself” was one of many opportunities in career and arts exploration this summer at MissionSAFE.
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MISSIONSAFE YOUTH TACKLE NEW HAMPSHIRE’S WHITE MOUNTAINS
Ten youth participating in MissionSAFE Charlestown’s Summer of Leadership and Service had the opportunity to take to the woods in a three night camping trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire as a result of a partnership between MissionSAFE and the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Youth Opportunities Program (AMC-YOP). In this partnership, AMC trains MissionSAFE staff to be trip leaders, and supplies the gear, and MissionSAFE provides the young people for a variety of camping trips throughout the year.
Highlights of this trip included day hiking to the summit of a mountain, canoeing, and experiencing three different living arrangements (hotel, cabin and tent).
The trip provided participants with a unique opportunity to step out of their comfort zone and live in a completely different environment, experiencing nature in a way not possible in a major urban center. The campers thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were really pleased with the opportunity.
“I never swam in a waterfall before” remarked MissionSAFE participant, Perla.
The trip reinforces MissionSAFE’s ongoing commitment to help youth expand their knowledge of the broader world and enhance their capacity to enjoy life’s many facets through “horizon-broadening” activities.
“The experience of leading kids and seeing their excitement when they accomplished something was amazing”. said MissionSAFE staffer and newly-trained trip leader, Antwan Mills, of the hike to they took to the South Peak.
The trip also served as a summer retreat “I liked it up there because it was calm, relaxing and quiet” noted Anthony.
This trip was one of many opportunities for youth this summer at MissionSAFE Charlestown.
THANK YOU'S!!!
To Simmons College for an ongoing partnership that includes hosting MissionSAFE youth for leadership workshops, hosting our YLSC Summer of Leadership and Service program, involving MissionSAFE in its State Department sponsored gathering of young African women leaders this summer!
To Deloitte Touche for sponsoring their third annual MissionSAFE Career Day in which MissionSAFE participants spend a day with mentors learning what work at Deloitte is like and working in teams on simulated work projects!
To Wheelock College for its ongoing partnership in sending student interns to MissionSAFE to assist in tutoring and program enrichment during the school year!
To RSM McGladrey in Charlestown for volunteering at MissionSAFE and supporting our work with youth of Charlestown!
To John Moriarty & Associates for continued financial support of MissionSAFE's work!
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MISSIONSAFE YOUTH WIN FIRST PRIZE AND RUNNER-UP BY
SAYING NO TO TOBACCO THROUGH ART
Boston – MissionSAFE youth were active participants in an Anti-Tobacco poster contest sponsored by the Boston Alliance for Community Health. Derrick Tarrant,13, of Charlestown won first prize for his creative poster and Marianna McNeil,16, of Roxbury was selected as the runner-up. The poster contest was an opportunity for youth to positively express ways to resist using tobacco products.
Participation in this citywide activity reinforces MissionSAFE’s commitment help youth strengthen their relational, social, emotional, communication, violence prevention, and decision-making skills.
STAFF AND YOUTH MEET WITH NGO LEADERS FROM AFRICA
In July, MissionSAFE hosted four young women leaders from Africa who were attending a special 3-week session at Simmons Collge to learn about the working of US non-profits. Sponsored by the State Department, approximately 13 women came from all over Africa to take part in this program. For approximately two hours, MissionSAFE staff and senior peer leaders talked with these women from Angola, Mozambique, Liberia and the newly-created, one-year old country of South Sudan. Staff had an opportunity to learn first-hand about the issues and opportunities facing these countries, as well as the issues facing frontline leaders trying to create direct service programs for young people. Staff spoke knowledgeably and passionately about their work with MissionSAFE and strategies they have used and listened well to the unique context each African woman was facing in her work. Staff looks forward to keeping up contact with these women as they found their programs and to sharing with youth this world-broadening experience.
MissionSAFE and Third Sector New England partner up!!
MissionSAFE and Third Sector New England (TSNE) have partnered up to strengthen MissionSAFE organizationally and allow us to fully focus on our programming and staffing priorities.
As of January 1, 2011, MissionSAFE became a fiscal sponsoree of TSNE. This arrangement gives MissionSAFE full accounting, bookkeeping and human resource staffing and allows us to deliver a generous benefits package to MissionSAFE program staff. Additionally, MissionSAFE is eligible for many free training programs from TSNE and its partners, as well as use of TSNE space for select events.
MissionSAFE will continue to run its programming independently and maintain its brand. Donations may still be made out to MissionSAFE or to MissionSAFE c/o TSNE. Donors, however, will notice that they receive an acknowledgment from TSNE as well as a thank-you from MissionSAFE.
Starting in 2012, look for MissionSAFE in Guidestar under TSNE.
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