BOYZZZ 2 MENNN

It's an interesting task that the Boyz to Men group has before us. We are supposed to put together a program that is both applicable and empowering to African American and Hispanic boys. At first I thought a "separate but equal" approach was the best way to reach out to these boys meaning that we would have two different lesson plans for the different ethnic group, but when really thinking about the boys, why would we want to separate them? There's a known conflict between African Americans and Hispanics in the United States. We need to promote the boys to embrace each others differences and similarities and work together to better and empower themselves and each other.

It is important to create a bond between the boys, true camaraderie.

There's no argument that African American and Hispanic boys fall into the lower brackets in regards to achievement in school. They have among the lowest test scores and the highest dropout rates. I think we should inform the boys of these similarity that these two groups share and encourage them to overcome these challenges. We should help them brainstorm ideas to overcoming the achievement gap. 

I think we should research methods/activities that people have been using in regards to closing the achievement gap and encouraging the boys to achieve beyond the limitations they may think society has placed on them. 

For next semester, I think we should turn Boyz to Men into more of a club with leadership positions and allowing the boys to help the UT students design curriculums that they feel they want to discuss after participating in the 5 week program with us. We need to empower them by giving them leadership roles and allowing them to help develop the program so they feel more involved. 

Communities.

I’ve always referred to these types of communities as low-income neighborhood. I can’t really remember a time when someone told me a different name to call them. I’ve heard of all the other names i.e. high risk, but for the most part it’s always been low-income neighborhoods. 

I absolutely love the quote “We refer to ourselves as a community of opportunity, a community of strong assets and capable leadership. These terms for communities lacking financial resources communicate the challenges as well as the energy, promise, and hope in these neighborhoods.” I think it’s extremely important to go into a situation where you don’t look at all the problems, but look solely at the potential. It’s really just changing one’s mindset to being more optimistic. These communities are a plethora of opportunity. It’s always hard to change a mindset, but I think changing the community’s mindset will help change other’s mindsets and perceptions of the community.

Parachuting volunteers into a community is a hard thing to evaluate. On one hand it’s good because there is some good at work, but on the other hand they’re just going in doing a quick project that doesn’t really get into community to understanding. After going to Ghana, I completely realize that it is so so important to make a sustainable impact in the community. If you don’t it makes it harder for future groups coming in to be trusted by the volunteers. Also, a sustainable project means that the community takes an active role in the project to make it have substance and meaning to the community. That’s why it was so crucial to create a sustainable mentorship program for the kids at Hope.

In order to involve the community in our STRONG group, It is imperative to get the kids excited about helping their school and community. First, we need to develop and train student leaders who can carry on the group for next year. It is important to develop some sort of leadership body within the group that we can give resources to so they can carry on STRONG for generations of students to come. In addition to that, I think it would be vital to involve the students of strong in community service based projects in their communities. For example, we will first start the kids working with the Purple Bike Project.  By enlisting their help the kids will realize how easy, important, and useful helping one’s community is. Hopefully this will inspire them other students, their families, and their communities to aid the Mart Community as a whole.  

But you aren't white?... No, just Katie.

I am privileged.


I always have been privileged, and I imagine as a result of the privileges I have received over the course of the first twenty-one years of my life I will continue to be privileged until the day I die. I have duly noted the fact that yes, I am privileged. 


However, I am not admitting to the fact that I have never faced hardships. Everyone has faced their certain amount of hardships in life. everyone. 


So in conclusion, I see myself as Katie, a girl who has seen her far share of privileges and hardships. 


So keeping in mind that I am privileged and have faced certain hardships/setbacks is key when "going into" communities or engaging with people within a community to volunteer. 


I imagine when I go into a community to volunteer, people see me first as a female, second as brown. What kind of brown is always up for debate... I could be Indian, Mexican, Egyptian,  Argentinean, Middle Eastern, Malaysian, etc. The list is endless for what kind of "brown" I am. Being biracial helps people identify with you better (i.e. an Indian will always think I'm 100% Indian; whereas, someone of Latin decedent will feel fully comfortable starting up a conversation in Spanish with me). After I open my mouth, people think of me as "white." White meaning I have no accent, and it sounds like I am educated. This puts me in an interesting place, I may look like the people I am serving, but I don't necessarily sound like them. 


Despite the fact talking about race is probably one of my least favorite things, I know race is the big colorful elephant in the room that everyone notices, but no one wants to talk about because they're too scared to address the topic or they feel if the topic isn't addressed it doesn't really exist. Yes, it does exist. I realize it does exist just like everyone else in the world does. For example, I went out to Abel's on the lake to watch the game on Saturday. While sitting up at the bar I did a scan of the outside patio, there was about 75+ people out there and my boyfriend and I were the only two people who were not white. cool. It took me until the second half of the game to realize that. So yes, race does exist, and yes, race is one of those things that is almost completely visible to the naked eye.


When a group of University of Texas students goes into a community that is predominately black or Hispanic, the community is going to notice that we don't necessarily relate to them right off the bat. For one, the majority of our group with a few exceptions are white females. Secondly, we are all college educated women who have all experienced some sort of privilege higher than the communities we are serving. It's almost painfully obvious. 


I think it's important for us to overcome this barrier and see each other all as individuals, yes note the fact that we all have our unique backgrounds whether it be an Indian Mexican college student or an African American student at Mart High School. After we note the fact that we are all special and different in our own unique ways and that these certain traits have resulted in privileges and hardships in our lives, we can move on from that and work together to accomplish whatever goal we set out to accomplish for their community together. 


Yes, I realized I represented 100% of the Asian and Hispanic population at Abel's on the Lake and my boyfriend represented 100% of the African American population at Abel's, but at the end of the day who gives a ****. We were all there for a common purpose, we united together because we were cheering on the Longhorns (despite that dismal lost), and although it took me about two hours to realize we were the huge minority at the bar, it took me less than thirty seconds to forget it because it didn't matter. We were all fans.


Just like going into a community different than your own, yes. acknowledge the fact that you are different and embrace your uniqueness.  But leave with a higher understanding that people are just people, all with their own uniqueness intact. 


So I'd hope at the end of the day the people I'd encounter in the community would see me as just Katie.