人種的平等

MAGIC has already impacted the lives of African-American students in Collier County. At one of the most academically deficient educational institutions in Collier County, MAGIC began working with a struggling African-American student named Jack. Jack had great difficulty comprehending a multitude of Algebra II concepts. As the CEO of the organization, I took it upon myself to schedule a tutoring session with Jack at a date, time, and place convenient for the both of us. After meeting with Jack for two weeks (and thoroughly explaining the material to him), this young man saw his grade for Algebra II transfigure from a low F to a high C! Regardless of age, ethnicity, or gender, MAGIC will provide subject-specific, academic assistance that has proven to engender scholastic achievement. MAGIC’s platform for success is infused within a unique approach to peer tutoring. This approach constitutes a network for students that allows them to seek out the help of academically successful peers in the community. The network will be finalized through the creation of a website http://www.magic4all.org that presents an academically struggling student with the options of selecting a specific subject in which he or she needs help, the state and city in which he or she resides, and a day of the week he or she finds most convenient for tutoring. MAGIC’s online database will, then, match this student up with an organizational scholar who best matches those specific credentials selected by the student in need.

As a consequence of our solution, British Columbians will have a realistic understanding of the immigrant community. All British Columbians can benefit from this knowledge by coming together, which can lead to greater contributions to the province economically and socially. The primary activities involved with our solution are to conduct video interviews in communities across British Columbia and ask the general population what they believe to be true about immigrants. Then after carrying out these video interviews with the general population, we will conduct video interviews with members of the immigrant communities across BC, to ask if these beliefs are true and obtain their responses. Once we have both sets of video interviews done we will post the interviews to our website. We will also contact media across British Columbia about our project and share the results of our video interviews. With both sides of the video interviews complete and the media involvement we can create a discussion across British Columbia which will encourage a better understanding between the general population and immigrant communities. Thus, resulting in a province which comes together economically and socially.

Our model begins with the voices of our subjects, vulnerable youth in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, BC. Kloshenem learned by doing consultations the needs of the students, the schools, the families and the community. Communication and consultation initiate and drive the process. In discerning the needs of the students we can tailor a program specific to those needs, a program that may involve play/story writing, traditional and non-traditional visual art work, elder visits and public sharing of their work.

One success story occurred in our partnership with a non-profit FN organization. Their needs were health related. Kloshenem developed programming that gave the students a sense of belonging, mastery, independence and generosity. The students learned these concepts, applied them and shared them with their family, friends, community and stakeholders. The primary activities were teaching concepts through art using professional art-educators such as visual, drama, media, dance artists and elders. We developed programming that helped the youth learn about mental health through painting, self-esteem through drama, community through dance and cooperation through Aboriginal games. The program culminated in an art show in a prestigious Lower Mainland gallery. Youth attended the art show opening and there was a feast to celebrate what the students had learned. The feast acknowledged Aboriginal culture, tradition and protocol and was proudly hosted by the youth. This pride beamed through the youth as they saw their potential celebrated on a public scale

A family of five arrives from the South Pacific. They are Permanent Residents, but not yet Canadian citizens. Only the father has a strong grasp of the English language. They have purchased a house in a rural area and are self-employed, working from home, are isolated physically and linguistically. Three young children have never spoken English, but begin school. The paternal grandparents are in their country of origin but have just suffered a health crisis. The Intercultural Society will offer them a springboard to all other services and friendly, outgoing, engaged Canadians to support them.They can immediately have one-on-one English language tutoring and, then, citizenship workshops. The children all experience difficulty at school and are identified as having psychological or behavioural problems. The family fears this will affect their citizenship application, as well as the stress of their concern for their children. Assistance navigating the Immigration Canada website and telephone information service is imperative. The father needs to return to his country of origin to look after his parents, but must be certain he is not away from Canada too much, as this would affect his residency status. Meanwhile, his wife is alone here, dealing with their children, their problems, her own linguistic ability, their business and isolation. Advocacy & assistance, if desired, by a native English speaker, is available. A social network is established by their participation in tutoring, cooking circles, English practice sessions and referrals to agencies. Networking!

African Eloquence is a University of Victoria student club and is connected to the African Heritage Association. We host an annual event called African Eloquence Youth Celebration.
We recruit local African youth to take part in this event, throughout the year through collaborations with local high schools. If a youth expresses interest, we visit their family to discuss the goals of the event and the commitment required. Event participants (African youth) are provided with ongoing coaching in developing a talent segment, a short essay on a country in African and in preparing for a question and answer portion. The ongoing coaching and dress rehearsal create a strong sense of community among the African youth and African Eloquence volunteers – the event itself is icing on the cake.
African Eloquence Youth Celebration is a one-night event that showcases and celebrates African culture through song, dance, traditional costume, artwork educational presentations. The event includes ten “contestants” – local African youth - who show leadership, community involvement, and cultural eloquence. A panel of community members evaluates the contestants based on quality of presentations, talents, and responses to the question and answer segment on contemporary cultural issues. The evening also features a special guest performer like African drummer Jordan Hanson, who led the audience in a brief djembe session and local Senegalese cuisine from Le Petit Dakar.
Last year over 200 community members attended and it was truly an electrifying and memorable event - made a positive impact.

Interviews and focus groups - building upon assets that already exist in the community, these activities aim to initiate thinking about food issues and to scope strategies/solutions. Gaps are identified, partnerships are formed, relationships developed leading to more engaged individuals. It offers a space where the community can explore cultural values about food, health and civic-engagement in Chinese-Canadian terms.

Leadership training - individuals gain expertise and knowledge of food issues and how they impact their communities, families and selves. They are provided with skills that allow for greater civic engagement (e.g. organizational, communication, fundraising, etc...). These skills are transferable to their personal and professional lives. For example, participants may be asked to develop a policy/resolution that they wish local restaurants to take up such as identifying GMO foods or local produce. They would research and develop a plan and implement it to their target audiences.

Food skill workshops - builds healthier and resilient communities by teaching people the techniques needed to achieve better personal and community health. For example, developing food skill workshops that focus on cultural foods such as learning how to preserve bamboo shoots or how to make beef noodle soup.

The UNLEARNing Project's™ intense marketing campaign is designed to attract users across the world who regularly use and engage with various social media tools in their daily lives. This will be achieved through: a) a strong presence on diverse social media outlets, b) advertisements in local newspapers and radio stations, c) presenting the project on local public access television stations, d) attending key local and nationwide events, e) networking with colleges and universities, f) publication materials, like postcards, flyers, business cards, pamphlets, etc., g) sponsorship and partnership with relevant political representatives and h) “link swapping” with other key local, national and international organizations, (i.e. LGBT, women’s rights and anti-racist organizations.)

To measure the effectiveness and success of this social justice interactive media tool, an experienced research and development team will extract data using a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative data gathering methods to assess the following: The quantitative data analysis will extract: a) the total number of visits or hits to the site daily, b) the size and number of followers through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media pages; the number of site users/followers that “like” the project’s Facebook page will also be highlighted, c) the frequency of interaction between site visitors, while the qualitative data analysis will measure the resulting “action” that follows (i.e. participation in social action groups, launching a community or advocacy.)

All the support required comes from the partners involved in the project. With the membership base of the BC Teacher's Federation, there is a guarantee that once the content is approved by the BC Teacher's Federation executive, having been vetted by the focus groups, the material will be used in BC schools. Making sure that the materials are also web based will meet a greater national need since these educational resources are not available. Engaging youth in the preparation of the materials as well as the mode of presentation, with a focus on local BC and Canadian case studies, will ensure greater buy-in from the constituency.

The differential of the program offered to those served by Quixote is founded on two pillars:
- Personalized treatment, whereby each child or young person is assessed individually and cared for, taking into account their history and their unique situation. Here, the empathy between therapist, educator, and individual served is critical to the success of the program.
- The use of hip-hop culture as a language to approach, build empathy and affinity with the individual served. Through workshops in break (dancing) and graffiti (visual art) and rap (music), the youth served learn the love of play and having fun; increase their cultural repertoire, work in groups, and learn specific skills etc.

Jared, a 15 year old African-American boy sits down to play the game. His character's name is Kronk and is a member of the Bovil group. He lives in a Bovil neighborhood, has had mostly bovil friends and colleagues. Kronk is a cop. Kronk wakes up and has the option to read the paper at breakfast. He chooses yes, and reads stories about break-ins committed by some Zoinks in a nearby town. He puts the paper down and gets in his car. He decides to turn on the radio and changes it to the news station. There is another report of a Zoinks committing a wave of robberies in the next state. He changes to a popular music station and hear's some famous Zoink rappers. He changes back to news. He is at work. He has been assigned neighborhood patrol. He and his partner drive through the neighborhood. He can choose to stop to talk to a Bovil neighbor. He does. He continues through the neighborhood. His partner calls to his attention a group of Zoinks walking together. He turns to Kronk and gives him the option of questioning them or just driving past. Kronk decides to stop them.

After playing that round, Jared can be probed either discussion style in class or in the game, if Jared's decision to stop the Kronks was racist. Was it profiling? Was it stereotyping? Or was it responsible action.

Each module allows for the character to make the small decisions we make daily. At crucial ones, (such as the moment the player must decide whether to stop the Zoinks) they are forced to reflect on the motivation that lead to the action in the game and in real life.

There are three major steps to make this project successful: A first step is to train students and their teachers over a four-day training in Critical Thinking skills (knowledge on systemic thinking, conflict resolution, looking at discriminatory attitudes and practices), non-violent communication skills (including active listening and giving constructive feedback), research and presentation skills to prepare them for the competition. Teachers are explicitly included to enable them to support their students and allow for a transfer of these skills into the school. Secondly a public speaking competition is being held where students can practice their newly gained talents in a fun and open way. This gives them a platform to express their opinion being heard by invited guests, such as school principals, district officials, students, local politicians and members of other NGO’s. It also encourages them to continue. Topics of these competitions are for example: “Standing up against mobbing in schools”, “Bridging the divide between poor and rich” or “Identity in Rwanda – Who is/can be Rwandan?”. Thirdly, students and schools are supported while incorporating trainings and competitions into their school’s life. During this process, students evaluate their own learning curve to enable and encourage them to improve even further.

A typical example of how creative writings can bring about real change is the following:
-a group of people explore the short story “Angel Levine” by Bernard Malamud that deals with racism, ethnic and religious issues and at the same time gives a positive idea about each which by analogy is positive reinforcement for people. Moreover, the group will then turn to exploring a story written on the topic of ethnic intolerance in Macedonia. Thus, the issue can be considered from a closer perspective. The idea of the story does not suspend reality but provides objective standpoint for discussion and solutions.
Primary activities will be based on artistic works, which we named “mirroring activities”, e.g. Beckett’s play Ohio Impromptu (purpose: restoring empathy) through an activity that involves Reader, Listener, Audience, some of which appear in Beckett’s play.
-narrative inquiry among participants resulting in creative stories to be published in our student magazine;
-analysing best photographs on ethnic tolerance chosen on a competition;
-analysing best creative stories/biographies of current writers from upcoming literature competition;
-role plays of critical situations led by experienced amateur actors;
-transforming best role plays into videos to raise awareness for tolerance
-audio & visual activities;
-oral & silent debates

The Peace Keeper Training was a City Wide 21st Century Civic Leadership Campaign that conducted 15 training events in Oakland beginning in September and ending in November 2010. The trainings enabled the community to respond peacefully to the sentencing of Johannes Mehserle for the death Oscar Grant. During this intense situation in Oakland, we went into the schools and the community and held open dialogues, established empathy circles, began a process of respect for all viewpoints, and used art to create a vision of Oakland as a City of Peace, bringing intergenerational and multicultural community groups together. We explored the essential positive attributes that we all must develop to generate empathy for differences in an urban city where bullying can be found on many levels, in schools, in neighborhoods and within Police relations. We guided people through extensive self-assessment processes, and using restorative justices principles and practices, taught empathy listening skills with non violent communication techniques.,. Participants introduced their selves from the ethnic and cultural backgrounds and we emphasize the important of cultural pride and awareness.

If community members attended the requisite number of sessions, they were certified as peacekeepers and played a key role in insuring that highly-volatile protest gatherings stayed non-violent.
On the days when the most outrage was expected, we established “empathy tents and empathy circles” for peacekeepers to help transform angry emotions into useful dialogue. We were successful.

GNOFHAC partners with dozens of educators, schools, youth-serving organizations and advocacy groups to bring the Equal Opportunity Game and its related children's book "The Fair Housing Five & the Haunted House" to youth in New Orleans and as far away as Michigan, Alabama, and Washington, DC. The game is designed to build empathy and cultivate critical thinking about social issues by putting students in the shoes of a person who has experienced the impact of housing discrimination.

In the game, students are assigned characters and must work in teams to find the housing that best meets their characters’ needs. Some of the characters “experience” housing discrimination, and students see the impact discrimination has on access to education, healthcare, jobs, and other resources via “situation cards” that they draw periodically. Students complete journal entries throughout the game to reflect on their experiences. The Equal Opportunity Game builds an appreciation of diversity, and a vocabulary around justice and equity in participating youth. As our next generation of leaders, it is important that youth learn about the impact of discrimination and the importance of equal opportunity at a young age so that they may bring these insights to their communities and work throughout their lives.

GNOFHAC hopes to expand the reach of the project by partnering with schools throughout Louisiana to conduct workshops, as well as by producing copies of the game materials and facilitator guide to distribute to schools and fair housing organizations around the country.