West Roxbury Teen Graduates from YWCA Leadership Program

Boston – Anna Li of West Roxbury was among 41 Boston area teenagers who recently graduated from YWCA Boston’s year-long, Youth Leadership Initiative.  Known as InIt, the selective, ten-month teen development program engages high school students with peers from different racial, religious, socio-economic, and geographic backgrounds and builds them into a network of student leaders who can affect change in the world around them.   

Graduation ceremonies held at YW Boston capped the 250+ hour program that included meetings with key city officials, community service projects and the completion of the participants’ community action plans that collectively engaged 280 teens in civic activities across Greater Boston.

“InIt’s goal is to build students’ confidence and their ability to work across differences. They ultimately design, implement, and engage other teens in a community action project that addresses an inequity in their school, community group, or neighborhood,” said YW Boston President and CEO Sylvia Ferrell-Jones. “We work with teens with leadership potential and bring them from learning about their world to leading it.”

Results

Ferrell-Jones pointed out significant outcomes from this year’s program.  In addition to the launch of social justice programs at the twelve participating schools and organizations, she noted significant changes in the youth themselves based on a survey of the participants:

• 71% feel that they know their community better
• 62% have changed their thoughts and approaches about how they can be of service to their community
• 41% feel they can better change their community as a result of the program

Ferrell-Jones also noted that the program builds students’ college admissions profiles, aiding them with acceptance and scholarships. Over its 27 year history, eighty-eight percent of InIt's 3,700 alumni have attended a four-year college versus a regional average of sixty-nine percent.

InIt members also note their growth as Boston’s future leaders. Referring to a social justice club created and led by InIt students at Boston Latin School, graduate Connie Chang summed up the InIt experience: “We will continue leading the club, and when we’ve graduated, I know that the next generation will find our work sustainable enough to maintain it for years to come. Other delegates of this 2013 InIt graduating class have also built sustainable plans, so that our memories of our year will become more than mere ghosts – they will become concrete projects, and create lasting change in our communities.”

Participating Schools

Supported by United Way for Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, Reebok, and the Devonshire Foundation, the program supports a school or teen organization’s growing commitment to community service and development.  Participating  schools and organizations this year included: Arlington High School, Beaver Country Day School, Boston Latin Academy, Boston Latin School, Boston Preparatory Charter Public School, Boys & Girls Club of Blue Hill,  Breakthrough Cambridge, Cambridge School of Weston, Dana Farber Cancer Institute youth programs, Dorchester Academy, Fenway High School, and Milton High School. Nine students also participated independent of their schools.

Enrollment is underway through June 14 for InIt 2014.  More information can be found at www.ywboston.org/init.

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YW Boston, America’s first YWCA, is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.  The 147 year-old institution is increasing social, racial, and gender equity by working to improve access to better health, make neighborhoods safer for everyone, and close the educational achievement gap. For more information, check us out on the Web, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.