Central American Youth Leadership Conference 2015
Central American Youth Leadership Conference
September 19th, 2015 from 9AM -5PM
Santee Educational Complex
Donate Through: 1921 Maple Ave S, Los Angeles, CA 90011
Homies Unidos Report of the 2015 Conference
Homies Unidos is requesting your financial support to put together the First Central American Youth Leadership Conference to formally welcome our Central American Refugee (CAR) youth to our community to connect them with resources that will address their trauma around the social determinants of health. CAR Youth have been dealing with violence since they lived in their country of origin, which they were forced to emigrate. They embarked in a dangerous journey through Mexico, and ended up incarcerated in the U.S. detention centers, after that the Immigration Enforcement Agency reallocated them into Refugee Centers until they were finally released to their parents/legal guardians. But their hopes and dreams of starting a new life free from violence have been challenged during a complex transitioning and reintegration process, when they unified with their family or relatives they had not seen in over a decade, new schools where they didn’t know anyone nor the language and feel alienated and the reality that many of these neighborhoods they came to live in lack the proper health systems. They are coping with anxiety, depression, and PSTD.
Event Page
Link to flier below
Organizations in Los Angeles like CARECEN and Saint St. John’s Well Child Center among others stepped forward and do great work; providing they help for their trauma, others served them with their immigration legal process. Homies Unidos is helping them with the culture shock they are experiencing in their schools and with their families. Homies Unidos started reaching out to schools and community service providers to refer any youth who needs mental health or legal services. As part of a preventive strategy we began implementing the Joven Noble, character development program to provide a safe space where they can express themselves through indigenous traditional teaching tools. Even though, our limited resources we have served over 58 youth in four different schools: Santee High, Hawthorne High, Hawkins High and L.A. River.
Through this Conference we will address the need to bring youth from other schools who are not benefiting with these services, where they can share experiences and be introduced to health service providers and other resources. Finally, we need to ensure these youth have a successful, healthy, safe, and well-supported integration to our communities. Therefore, in solidarity with Central American refugees, Homies Unidos is proposing to put together the first locally accessible Central American Youth Leadership Conference. The main purpose will be to ensure that these refugee youth feel welcomed, introduced to service providers and to celebrate and promote Central American art and culture. Goals
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- Facilitate a preventive holistic health process of integration of the youth, which will be launched within the youth Conference and the resource fair, where the organizations and the larger community welcomes refugee youth from Central American and their families.
- Connect CAR youth with resources and direct links to health and other service providers that eventually will integrate a comprehensive and complete referral system.
- Identify potential youth leaders that would gain a greater understanding of their traumatic experiences, other health issues amongst the Central American Immigrant Youth that will educate the larger community.
As a result of this conference organized by our Central American youth would have graduated from our summer Youth Leadership Training, we will have learned together to organize around the health disparities based in the social determinants of health, in their communities and will become part of a larger component of the Youth Refugee Council. Overall, Central American youth from various schools will benefit from the health resources and cultural activities provided by organizations, endorsers, funders, and the youth themselves; which eventually would create opportunities for positive feedback, health referral system and self-esteem building for CAR youth, in the long run towards more support from the main community stakeholders.
If you are interested in becoming a SPONSOR , please contact Paula Guadron at pguadron@homiesunidos.org
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