Newark, NJ

Through a mix of art, research, policy briefs, advocacy training, personal narrative writing, videography, and photography, Newark youth will grapple with the effects of COVID-19 on their community. They will also study the deep disparities in health that it reinforces. The youth will participate in the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program, and will conduct action research with two community-driven organizations – the Abbot Leadership Institute and the Gem Project. Participants will both document the world as it is today in the middle of a pandemic, and envision a world of the future that is equitable. Each program will take a slightly different approach to empowering youth as changemakers, historians, advocates, and civic leaders. Youth will document their present, understand how the past informs it, and imagine their future.