Andrea Colon spent her Halloweens making the journey to the far side of Rockaway Peninsula, an 11-mile length of land jutting out of Queens, New York. She knew that the west side of the peninsula was where the rich families lived. And their wealth meant a bigger, better haul of treats than the one she would’ve earned had she stayed put on the east side.
But when she entered high school, she realized the holiday wasn’t just a night of costume and treats: It was a reflection of the myriad of disparities that divided the lives of the 127,000 residents of Rockaway Peninsula.
The houses along the west side tend to belong to wealthy, white families. Residents on the east side are typically minorities and lower-income residents. People who live on the west side have private beaches, yacht clubs and the Rockaway Farmers Market. The east side is regarded as a food desert lacking in options for affordable, fresh and healthy food — perhaps one of the key reasons why its residents face high rates of obesity and diabetes. Whereas wealthy commuters on the west side are better positioned — financially and geographically — to get to work, commuters on the east side are more likely to rely on public transportation, where the dearth of options means they must face commutes averaging 53 minutes in each direction a day, the longest commutes of any New York City residents.
The more Colon learned about the chasm of inequality in her own backyard, the more the high school student realized she had to do something. So in 2016, during her junior year, she joined the Rockaway Youth Task Force (RYTF).
RYTF is a “for youth, by youth” group of 60 young people organizing at the grassroots level to equalize outcomes across race and class lines within its community.
“It’s about coming together as young people and trying to get access to spaces where these things are talked about,” Colon, now 18 and lead organizer for the group, told NationSwell. “The youth voice is just not very present.”
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When RYTF was founded in 2011, it initially focused on neighborhood beautification projects and community improvements. Then, in the year following the organization’s founding, Hurricane Sandy hit.
“I think that’s when it all came full circle, and we all just started having more of a social justice lens in thinking about issues that impact our community,” Colon said.
The devastating superstorm left parts of Rockaway without electricity or access to medical attention for weeks and subway service was suspended for seven months. Local grocery stores were destroyed. Colon said families turned to bodegas for food, and despite their best efforts, those corner stores weren’t able to reliably provide fresh produce to customers.
So in 2013, the youth group rallied for access to a vacant, half-acre lot on Beach 54th Street and transformed it into something thriving: the largest youth-run urban farm in New York City for the past six years, bringing the possibility of fresh produce — and therefore healthy food — to a community where such offerings were a rarity.
But RYTF grows more than good greens. Its organizers pride themselves on helping young people grow into the kind of leaders who actually better their communities.
In 2013, the group became a nonprofit and grew to expand its focus into four core areas: food justice, educational equity, criminal justice reform and civic engagement. Those core areas extended out into hosting campaigns around voter registration, lobbying for restorative justice practices in schools and organizing Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the city.
Among its accomplishments was the successful campaign to extend the Q52 bus line 18 blocks east. This gave over 10,000 more residents access to the route, and therefore, access to jobs, schools and resources.
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Young people across Rockaway can join the task force by going through a 12-week course on the history of organized movements and basics of movement building. Then they get to work: The members attend community council meetings, lead rallies and organize protests.
Colon said other communities can and should create similar groups so young people’s voices can be heard.
“All these issues impact young people,” Colon said. “This is the world that we’re going to be living in for quite a while, so our voices should be validated and we should be given a seat at the table.”
RYTF was founded by the simple model of finding a problem, rallying people together and creating change. Its website provides an in-depth look at how the group approaches issues and theory of change. It’s a model that communities across the nation can adapt to their own unique neighborhoods. Colon’s advice is to get people together and act — or else.
“We’re going to be the ones either suffering from the consequences or reaping the benefits,” she warned.
More: Brooklyn Middle Schoolers Are Launching Homemade Boats to Test Their Stem Skills
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Andrea Colon is 22 and joined the task for in 2015. She is 18 and joined in 2016. NationSwell apologizes for these errors.
Tag: young people
A New Fleet of Food Trucks Offers a Better Path for Formerly Jailed Kids
Snow Day is the first in a potential fleet of food trucks by the New York City-based nonprofit Drive Change. On its menu: locally-sourced, maple syrup-inspired food that is prepared, cooked and served by formerly incarcerated youth.
Jordyn Lexton founded the organization in 2013 with the goal of reducing the number of young people that return to jail after being released with a criminal record. She employs them at $11 and hour and provides what she hopes will be a launchpad into the food industry or other employment opportunities.
Watch Out, Victoria! This Driven Teen Is Taking On the Bra Industry
Your first bra-shopping experience is a rite-of-passage, but it can sure be uncomfortable. This is especially the case when all you’re confronted with in the lingerie section are ill-fitting sports bras, frilly ones with flowers and butterflies, or even padded push-up bras that are completely inappropriate.
That’s why 18-year-old Megan Grassell is setting out to change the bra industry with her start-up, Yellowberry. The lingerie company makes bras for girls between 11-15 that are comfortable, age-appropriate — and, yes, even cute.
The Jackson, Wyoming high schooler decided to start her company after a disappointing shopping trip with her younger sister, Mary, to buy her first bra. “I couldn’t believe the bras that she was supposed to buy,” the young entrepreneur says. “The choices for her, and for all girls her age (the 11-15 age group) were simply appalling to me. They were all padded, push-up, and sexual. Not only that, they did not fit her body properly, which automatically made me wonder ‘Where were the young, cute, and realistic bras for girls?!'”
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That’s when she decided she could take on this mission herself. As Megan says, “I realized that I could do it; I could make those bras for girls.”
To build her company, she told Fortune that she used up her own money from summers working at a gas station and waitressing. She also completed a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised nearly $42,000 — almost double her initial goal of $25,000. According to Fast Company, after launching her Yellowberry site, she sold out of her first stock of product in just days. The bras are currently available for pre-order.
Despite her success, she told Fast Company that starting her own business has its difficulties, especially due to her young age and a steep learning curve: “[At first] I didn’t know anything, and I still have so much to learn, but it was hard to get people to take me seriously.”
However, Megan (who is deferring her acceptance to Middlebury College for a year to focus on Yellowberry) remains motivated. The company is currently in phase two of its fundraising campaign so they can put out more bra styles, colors, and even underwear.
ALSO: 4 Out of 5 Black Women Are Overweight. This Group Has the Solution — and They Are on the March
But beyond the bra, the young CEO’s story is also inspiring younger girls, including Madison Kimrey, 12-year-old girl from North Carolina who called Megan a role model for their generation in an open letter.
Megan told Fast Company that she found it humbling for another young girl to see her that way, saying, “I guess in a way I’m trying to change the world a little bit.”
Bra-vo, Megan!
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What Are All Those Teens Doing on Their Phones? Learning About Politics, Apparently
Researchers have long known that political engagement among young people increases with socioeconomic status—the more privileged the person, the more likely they are to participate in civic matters. But is there another force more powerful than money when it comes to getting young people to engage with the political process? A new study suggests that there is: social media. Young people of any economic background who used social media were more likely to be politically engaged than those who did not.
Michael Xenos of the University of Wisconsin, Ariadne Vromen of the University of Sydney, and Brian D. Loader of the University of York studied political engagement among young people in the United States, Australia and Great Britain. They surveyed a representative sample of people aged 16 to 29 in each country, asking about social media use and acts of civic and political engagement. (They did not ask about voting.) In their study published in Information, Communication & Society, they write, “We find a strong, significant, and robust positive relationship between social media use and political engagement.”
They also write, “Stated plainly, our results suggest that if one were seeking an efficient single indicator of political engagement among young people in the countries studied here, social media use would appear to be as good as, or better than, SES [socioeconomic status].” So watch out—those teenagers using Snapchat and Instagram today might fuel a new wave of political engagement tomorrow.
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