Young Women of Promise, Inc.
Post Office Box 5433, Charlotte, North Carolina 28299
(704) 877-9387
Email:ywopromise@yahoo.com
Website: www.youthvoicesandvision.org
Charlotte Area Youth Commit to 40 Days of No Violence
in Support of National PEN OR PENCIL B.U.S. Boycotts
Students at Crossroads Charter High School in Charlotte have been chosen to participate and help pilot a national 40-day boycott of violence and crime. Dubbed the PEN or PENCIL B.U.S. Boycott, the program is designed as a student-led contemporary civil rights movement to challenge youth around the nation and other schools and communities to take a stand against violence of all types. The National Alliance of Faith and Justice (NAFJ) has conceptualized and proposed the PEN or PENCIL National B.U.S. Boycotts to impact attitudes, provide an environment for public interest and education, and reignite a spirit and reason to make change by America's youth. PEN stands for penitentiary, and PENCIL stands for education. B.U.S. stands for building unbalanced systems, a crisis where far more youth, particularly males of color, end up incarcerated than in higher education. This compromises Dr. Martin Luther King's dream of hope and the productive futures of youth because of choices to take the road that leads to the PEN(itentiary) rather than the choice to retain their seat in their classrooms and schools, the PENCIL (education).
The year 2008 marks the 40th anniversary since the brutal assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. It is for this reason, that the program is implemented in increments of 40 for the movement. The project will tap into the amazing energy, idealism, creativity and commitment of 40-day cycles of 40 youth to address one of the most intractable problem faced by many youth of our nation, the reduction of violence and crime. Twenty students from Crossroads Charter High School along with twenty program participants from the Young Women of Promise mentoring program will sign a Freedom of Choice Agreement in which they pledge to keep their seats in the classroom to challenge the crisis of high school dropouts. The model will allow the students to replicate historic student non-violent social protests and offers an experiential and cooperative learning experience. The program will help the youth to learn and live the history that encouraged people to work together to influence social change. The youth will also have the opportunity to participate in leadership development workshops which will include teambuilding, public speaking, conflict resolution, creative writing and more.
The PEN or PENCIL B.U.S. Boycott initiative aligns with the priorities of Learn and Serve America, a program that helps youth make meaningful contributions to their communities while building their academic and civic skills. As a condition of participation in the B.U.S. Boycott, each youth must also participate in eight hours of service that may be conducted as a cooperative act or individual act of volunteerism. The project will be launched on the MLK Day of Service, January 21 and will end April 27, 2008, Global Youth Service Day.
Young Women of Promise, Inc., (YWOP), a local youth and education nonprofit, is serving as the organizational host for the project at Crossroads Charter High School. 2008 marks the third year that YWOP has been a National MLK Day of Service partner. Current funding support was provided by the National Alliance of Faith and Justice.