2010 Highlights

 

Our 3rd annual Leadership Education Action to Promote Safety for Young Workers Academy has ended, however the movement inspired by those invigorating three days continues!

LEAPS 2010 was an exciting event that brought together youth for an intensive 3 days geared towards increasing their capabilities of becoming active and engaged leaders in their community. Coming from different backgrounds, work level experience, and parts of the State, the teens were introduced to themes that currently impact their lives and job safety.

   

The youth engaged in workshops led by the TL@W peer leaders on health and safety in the workplace, workplace violence prevention, worker safety, workers’ rights, sexual harassment in the workplace, youth & union organizing, and community action. There were stories of shared work experiences, interactive role plays, and dialogue about the issues and what linked all teens present at LEAPS.

This year, workshops were also provided for the adult advisors which provided professional development capabilities that could be used at their home programs. Among the presenters, were Carol Bates from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Peggy Barrett from the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC), and Laurie Jo Wallace from Health Resources in Action (HRiA) who covered topics from current labor law rights and expected changes in the 2010-2011 year, making adjustments to current programming due to decreases in funding, and creating opportunities for the youth programs and program staff to be a safe haven for the teens. The adult advisors were especially engaged in workshops on how best to open conversation around any personal challenges that could affect their youths working mindset as well as academic and career preparatory tools that could be offered as teens exit programs.

 

 

“LEAPS is important because what we share impacts teens and the community,” said TL@W Senior Peer Leader Laurie Paris. “By teaching them their rights in the workplace, teens are better informed and they also walk away knowing how to get themselves out of bad situations at work.”

       The youth spent the month of May finalizing Community Action Projects, which they used to engage other youth and community members about the importance of workplace violence prevention, worker safety, workers’ rights, sexual harassment in the workplace, youth & union organizing, and community action.

        “The most important piece of information that I will take away from LEAPS and these workshops is that every teen has rights in the workplace,” said Rikeira Hinds, a LEAPS participant from Roxbury.

       

Following LEAPS, at the request of the Teens Lead at Work (TL@W) peer leaders, Governor Deval Patrick proclaimed May "Young Worker Safety Month". This closely ties to LEAPS, as the goal of increasing the awareness of child labor laws as well as health and safety issues young workers face in the workplace is at the heart of the Academy. This was a learned lesson for Rohy Monegro of Holyoke, who at the end, said of LEAPS "I learned what are safety hazards and how to identify them at my program and even how to prevent them." 

 

Some of the highlights include:

  • Over 40 teens from across Massachusetts attended the conference, hosted at City Year Headquarters. This included teens from as far as New Bedford and Holyoke
  • There were 11 Adult Advisors participating in LEAPS with their youth teams
  • LEAPS teams went to the MA State House to speak with their Senators and Representatives about the importance of youth programs and to ask for their support in halting the cuts to youth funding

  • An invigorating discussion was held on the importance of unions and the labor movement with 5 experts from partner organization 1199SEIU
  • A presentation from the Boston-area Youth Organizing Project (BYOP) emphasized the importance of the youth learning to become change makers in their own communities

  • Participants took part in a four corners discussion on grassroots organizing, lobbying, and community activism
  • An interactive discussion on relationship violence was provided for a third year by Stephanie Trilling of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC)
  • Carol Bates of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Peggy Barrett of BARCC, Laurie Jo Wallace of Health Resources in Action (HRiA) provided professional development workshops for the Adult Advisors
  • LEAPS volunteers were invaluable in helping the days run smoothly
  • Experts from the Attorney General's Office, MassCOSH, 1199SEIU, and BARCC were part of a round-robin table discussion for the youth
  • The teams created drafts of their community action projects and presented them to the rest of the group!

 

Our Return Summit was also a succes:

On June 12th, participants rejoined one another at the LEAPS Summit to share the resulting successes of their community action projects.

 

Teens Lead at Work and Community Action Agency of Somerville peer leaders hosted the LEAPS Summit at the Young Womens' Christian Association.

 

The Summit brought together original teens involved in LEAPS to learn about the projects that resulted from the seven groups with over 40 teens participating in the Leadership Education in Action to Promote Safety for Young Workers Academy in April. LEAPS was a chance for participants of LEAPS to share with everyone their experiences at LEAPS, a chance to showcase the different community projects of each team, an opportunity to discuss the experiences and lessons learned from the community project, and a celebration of youth leadership!

    

And what a showcase it was! The groups really impressed all those in attendance with their thoughtful projects. The issue of sustainability was addressed by most of the projects, showing a lot of careful planning in the months that followed their experiences at LEAPS. Here is a sampling of some of the projects presented at the LEAPS Summit:

  •          Teens of Dotwell in Dorchester shared an informative video on bullying in the workplace. They also created posters to be placed around the community and in schools
  •          The boys of Holyokes’ Teen Resource Center first researched the types of “green” products available for safer cleaning methods and then shared this information with local youth groups

  •          The Citizen School gave a presentation on workplace health and safety to up and comers in the workforce—local 6th graders that they work with!
  •         New Bedford CEDC team created a website to better help them promote workplace health and safety in the community which will have links to different articles and helpful resources on staying safe at work

  •        MissionSAFE Roxbury provided a three-fold discussion, volunteer opportunity for their community by having a health fair that included open discussion on good workplace hygiene, issues of discrimination, and sexual harassment at work. They then held a second event where there was a clean-up of their community center so that it was a healthier playing and learning environment for members

As a follow up to their experience at LEAPS and the Summit, participants were asked on final thoughts—

“It’s really empowering for the youth and really necessary because although LEAPS itself is a small group of people, so many more people can benefit from it. The community outreach of it is really well done” –Elijah Heckstall, Citizens School

“LEAPS helped me know my rights at my job and things that can be a hazard to me. The LEAPS conference was very informational and helpful” –Alicia Lewis, Mattapan Food & Fitness: Vigorous Youth