August 1st: Youth Leadership and Activism Conference, Making Change Count

Date: August 1st

Location: New York University

Since 2003, Chinatown Youth Initiatives (CYI) has hosted its annual Chinatown Beautification Day (CBD) in an effort to raise awareness of post-911 environmental concerns in the Chinatown community. Annually 150-350 New York City youth are mobilized to spend a day cleaning the streets of Chinatown and documenting areas in the community that need more attention (e.g. fire hydrants that are defunct, trash receptacles that need to be emptied more frequently, areas that need more trash receptacles to be installed on street corners, etc.). This year, CBD will be expanding into a 2-day event, making CBD a fun-filled weekend. The city-wide youth conference will be held on Saturday, August 1st at NYU, and the annual clean up day will be on Sunday, August 2nd at CCBA.

This year’s theme is “Making Change Count”, a focus on Youth Leadership and Activism. The goal of the conference is to expose many high school students to local issues, provide a safe space to discuss their struggles, meet inspiring leaders, and learn skills to take action. On the following day, participants, both youth and non-youth will apply their skills in a group effort to clean up the streets of Chinatown, while raising awareness of environmental concerns.

Why come to the Conference?

1. Engage in awesome workshops such as:

- “Shmoozin’ & Boozin’ - A Workshop on Etiquette”
- Asian Americans: Sex and Sexuality
- Don’t Tell Me “You’re Too Young to Do Anything”!
- “Are You Crazy?!”: Youth as Advocates, Combating the Stigma of Mental Health & Illness
- Get Me Bodied: Asian Women Embodied, Empowered
- Resistance is Fertile: Food, Globalization and Transnational Resistance
- Youth Rights- Pushed to Drop Out

2. PERFORMANCE BY MAGNETIC NORTH!!
3. Meet new friends and inspiring leaders around the NYC area
4. Free food!
5. Open Mic!

Why come to the Clean-up Day?

1. Work along with friends or people from the conference to clean up and raise awareness about the environment
2. Meet new people
3. Service credit!
4. Free T-Shirt!!

Why come to BOTH DAYS?
1. You can get ALL of these benefits.
2. The participants in your small groups you meet on the Conference will be your group members for the clean-up day.

NOTE: FOR CYI’S YOUTH CONFERENCE, IT WILL BE A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE BASIS.

If you have questions/concern, feel free to email cleanup@cyinyc.org. We hope to see you all there!

Below are workshop descriptions for the Conference:

• Asian Americans: Sex and Sexuality

Human beings are driven by three things in life: food, water, and sex. This includes Asian Americans. Yes, we have sex too. So how do Asian Americans view sex and sexuality? How does this generation reconcile our definition of sex with that of the old and new cultural interpretations of Asia? From the Kama Sutra to the asexual model minority to the imbalance of Asian Americans women and men in pornography, we’re raising the bar and asking you to analyze that very carefully guarded core of our existences: SEX.

• Don’t Tell Me “You’re Too Young to Do Anything”!

There is a popular misconception that you need an advanced degree to do public advocacy, and this workshop will explain why a law degree isn’t always necessary. In the workshop, participants will gain knowledge of skills used by grassroots groups, and realize that they do have the power to change things in their communities.

• Get Me Bodied: Asian Women Embodied, Empowered

When we talk about our bodies, we are actively participating with them, taking ownership of them. The goals of this workshop are to empower women to own and affirm our bodies by encouraging us to take care of our health and to cultivate an awareness of broader issues that affect API women. Topics include health/care, reproductive rights, body image, and fetishization and commodification.

• Resistance is Fertile: Food, Globalization and Transnational Resistance

This workshop will explore the impact of corporate food production both globally and locally. We will address the humanitarian, cultural, environmental and physical assaults perpetrated on our (global) communities by industrial agriculture while exploring forms of resistance both internationally and locally.

• “Are You Crazy?!”: Youth as Advocates, Combating the Stigma of Mental Health & Illness

Do you or someone you know have a mental illness? Is counseling and therapy just for “crazy” people? Have you ever considered going to a counselor but have been unsure about what to expect? How do you know if a friend is just being “emo” or actually needs professional help? Why is talking about mental illness so taboo, particularly among communities of color? In this interactive workshop, participants will explore their own assumptions and beliefs about mental health and illness. Participants will also walk away with tools for raising awareness of mental health issues in their communities.

• Shmoozin’ & Boozin’ - A Workshop on Etiquette

Know how the perfect handshake can make or break that interview? Where to put your hands when receiving honored guests? Time and time again we’ve all screwed up one way or another. When everything seems intuitive, we then make complete fools out of ourselves. Don’t let that next time be you.This workshop will assess your skills and confidence in the professional world, especially the differences between Western and Eastern forms of courtesy. We’ll even shatter some stereotypes and do some mythbusting along the way.

• Pushed to Drop Out