Youth Peace Empowerment
Youth Peace Empowerment (Y.P.E.) Summer Program and Afterschool: Y.P.E. exposes young people to positive role models while learning useful life skills and violence prevention techniques. These mentor relationships can help youth hone in on their skills, in order to succeed in employment and academic pursuits. Y.P.E. is a cooperative effort with churches in the Humboldt Avenue area of Roxbury: Bethel Pentecostal, Greater Generations Tabernacle, and St. Mark Congregational. In Summer 2009 alone, over 200 young people attended Y.P.E. events; including job readiness training, conflict resolution, self-esteem and empowerment programs, community-building instruction, and sports and recreation. The Peace Workshops are based on the CMS-produced video “Jahmol’s Vision for Youth Peace.” The Workshops aim to reach at-risk youth and promote non-violence, using the video as an example. The video focuses on the challenge facing a group of young people to promote peace in the climate of escalating teen handgun violence. These workshops honor the life of Jahmol Norfleet, who worked to promote peace among youth on the streets of Boston.City Mission Society has three focus areas for its programming: Homelessness Prevention, Youth Peace Promotion, and Faith and Community Engagement. While addressing distinct issues, the three focus areas overlap to form a coherent whole.
Through its Youth Peace Empowerment focus area, CMS provides educational and recreation activities that encourage youth to play a positive role in their communities.
