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Arete Youth Service and Leadership Fellowship

Arete is proud to announce the hiring of Yaritza Montiel, a graduate of the Laboratory School of Finance and Technology (MS/HS 223) and alumni of Arete programs, in the new position of Youth Service and Leadership Fellow. In this role Yartiza will be leading youth service and leadership initiatives for middle school and high school students across our programs in Mott Haven. She will be focusing on the areas: financial literacy, community service learning, advocacy for racial equity, food security for children and families, and high quality job access for youth.

Yaritza is enrolled at Cornell University and is majoring in Information Science and also serves in the U.S. Army Reserves. She will be taking a GAP year for the 2020-2021 school year and during this time will serve as an Arete Fellow and figure out what she is passionate about, enjoys doing, and should explore for a future career. We are thrilled to have Yaritza join the team.

 - 12/01/2020 - sbsd@areteeducation.org

Sopa de Viandas Recipe

Nutrition, Love, and Investment in Mott Haven

Learn more about how the Feed Our Needs Initiative is supporting Black-owned businesses in the Bronx and Harlem this giving season.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses across the country have struggled to recover from the financial strain imposed by measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Black-owned businesses are especially vulnerable, with studies indicating they are shutting down twice as fast as Nonblack-owned businesses. In light of these disparities in the economic health of Black-owned businesses, Engage@IHSMarkit and Barclays Embrace will partner with Arete and Black-owned restaurants to raise funds for meal distribution in Harlem and the Bronx.

This initiative is aimed at supporting Black-owned restaurants in the surrounding areas to source the meals that will be distributed. Funds raised will be used to purchase meals from La Morada in the South Bronx and Melba’s in Harlem, both being active partners in their communities.

This Feed Our Needs Initiative builds on Arete's past work raising funds to feed the families at the schools we serve in Mott Haven (South Bronx) and Harlem.

 - 11/27/2020 - sbsd@areteeducation.org
racial-gap

Love and Racial Justice Youth Leadership Initiative

This month Arete is launching a Youth Leadership Initiative integrating the topics of Love and Racial Justice.

What does love have to do with racial justice?
Can understanding the dynamics of love lead towards racial justice?

When prompted, many of us can list all of the injustices that racism has caused in our society. However, can we discuss what it would look like if racial justice was achieved?

Discussions of love as a force of healing are often neglected in talks about racial justice. Research has proven that love is a powerful force of healing in the body and has a positive outcome on the lives of people who experience love.

Starting November 12, 2020, we are inviting our student and alumni leaders to join a year-long study on these topics. Monthly hour-long sessions (5 pm on Thursdays) will provide spaces for youth to engage with expert coach and facilitator, Dr. Maria Akinyele, who is serving as Arete's Coach in residency this academic year. She has designed a six-part series of workshops, where youth leaders will explore conceptions of love as a pathway for imagining and achieving racial justice.

Our your leaders will:

  • Develop an awareness of self-love and your love identity.
  • Explore different understandings of love as a feeling and as an action.
  • Understand the role of love in racial justice work
  • Explore protocols to engage in racial healing conversations amongst staff and students.
  • Engage in love study of yourself, others and society.
  • Explore visions and models of racial justice
  • Develop equity stances and statements that promote racially just school environments

Beginning in February 2020, our youth leaders will begin working with Dr. Maria to design bilingual family workshops on the topics they are exploring in their work and offer those sessions in English and Spanish for all families in our school community.

This youth leadership team will also begin working as professional learning facilitators in Arete Forum sessions as all staff across the organization follow the lead of our youth leaders and delve into the topics and learning activities presented in the 6-part workshop series. Our youth leaders will be co-facilitators during those professional learning sessions.

At the end of the youth leadership initiative, we will have 8 certified youth leaders on the topic of racial justice and love, having gained 25 hours of learning and coaching. We look forward to the new community learning initiatives and service projects that come forward through this focused work over the year.

 - 11/11/2020 - sbsd@areteeducation.org
Screen Shot 2020-08-25 at 9.10.19 AM

Restoration=Power (Self-Care and BLM)

The Black Lives Matter movement is not something that has recently emerged in America-- it has resurfaced. For centuries, America has been a place that has constantly neglected the issues at hand regarding black people. There have been constant battles from the Civil Rights Movement in the mid 1950s to the late 1960s, to the modern day Black Lives Matter movement that was started back in 2013, which is still very relevant till this day. Our American system is built on principles made to serve white men, and has been buried by slogans like “liberty and justice for all,” when in reality justice has countless times never been served for the black innocent lives lost due to the systemic racism present. 

It has been the job of the people to stand against the corrupt American system and fight for basic human rights that everyone is entitled to. There should not be a fight, but there is. There has been, and it will continue until the system is truly changed to serve everyone like they promised. 

The Black Lives Matter movement is particularly important to me because most of my life up to this point, I’ve been influenced by so many black people who have shaped me in ways unimaginable. From my childhood friends, my mentors, music teachers, and my family members I have felt so closely connected to, I feel so enraged about the current state of the country and bias against people who I have felt so much love for. Fighting for your personal community is a form of advocacy I have been exercising. Contributing to this movement and understanding why it is so important, is part of my own growth through continuously learning about shared worries black people around me and nationally have.

The worries black people share nationwide through social media outlets like Twitter and Instagram, have educated me and have brought awareness to issues that are far from the surface. As I’ve read and read through countless posts, articles, and looked at pictures, it instantly made me think if everyone deeply affected by the issues at hand have been taking care of themselves. It made me worried that the strong black people I am so inspired by through their bravery, were looking within and finding ways to stay in touch with themselves. Mental health during these times is incredibly important because sharing with the world your traumas and fears can be draining, so recharging is essential in the restoration of power. Through restoring oneselves power, your voice will be used to its full potential and clearly heard by those like me who are allies. 

Self-Care & BLM 

Many people don’t think that self-care is important during these times because there are greater problems to worry about and advocate for. However, advocacy looks different for everyone, and can actually be tied to anything relating to the honoration of black lives. For example:

  • Painting/Drawing: Painting and drawing are effective ways to perform self care because your focus will be turned over into your art instead of everything else. The problems going on don’t have to be ignored, but instead brought to light through art. Painting and drawing your feelings can help liberate your mind from the stressors contributing to your current worries.
  • Journaling: Journaling is a way where you can be completely honest with yourself and spill everything you have been feeling onto a piece of paper that no one else has to read. This will help in the organization of thoughts and feelings, making it easier to understand yourself and your feelings. This can also help you realize what you truly want to use your voice for the next time you speak up.
  • Reading: Reading is a form of escape from the real world into other stories that have nothing to do with you. Pulling out a book to read can help ease your mind but also give you new perspectives as you go. By reading books by black writers, you can take a trip into one of their stories and connect through their words.
  • Exercise/Dancing: Having feelings of frustration can psychologically be released through exercising. Dancing, more specifically is a gift that can be twisted in a way to serve you physically but also mentally. It is exercise, but also a fun activity to do with your family and friends. During these tough times, putting on music by black artists and dancing will be a way to enhance black artists' voices through your own self care.
  • Listening to Music/Making Playlists: alongside dancing, listening to music can be a great way to amplify black voices. The stories hiding within music can be an escape from reality, similar to reading books, and you get exposure to the works of art that these artists hold dear to their hearts no matter the genre.

My preferred self care activities would be dance and listening to music since they come hand in hand. Dancing has always been a way for me to destress and recharge myself. During these times I have dedicated myself to learning some dance routines to songs by black artists that I admire. One of these artists being Lizzo. Lizzo is not only an icon of being confidently beautiful, but an inspiration to the black community in general. A black successful artist who has done nothing but spread positivity and light; she should be celebrated through times like these. Black lives matter, her life matters, her father, uncles, cousins, brothers lives matter, and all of her black fans that she inspires matter. 

More on BLM and Music

I decided to make a BLM Playlist and put together songs that I have been listening to throughout this month. There’s a variety of genres included within the playlist so you can either skip around or listen directly through the whole playlist. I recommend listening to the whole playlist because new black creators can be exposed to you, and by streaming their music as a form of self-care, their voices will be magnified. Black lives matter, these artists’ lives matter, their fathers, uncles, cousins, brothers lives matter, and all of the black fans that these artists inspire matter. Here is the link to my playlist:

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/blm-explicit/pl.u-Ymb09NqTP8Pm8G9

I urge everyone to engage in a form of self care during these times. The Black Lives Matter battle is nowhere near over and the movement needs activists who are strong and powerful. Restoration of power is essential in working towards a changed future, and we will get there. Like Lizzo once said:

You know what I want above all things? I want people who are aware of my music right now, to believe in change.”

 - 08/10/2020 - Rose Padilla

50 Ways You Can Help

For the past couple of the days the BLM movement has turned into an unrest of wanting equality. Many people do not understand the movement because they fail to realize the privilege they have. Seeing several articles on how to stay in involved and what type of media you should be consuming so you are much more aware of what is going on. Here are a couple of lists of media I have seen that can help someone understand.

10 movies/shows you can watch that speak on these issues are...

  1. When They See Us (Netflix)
  2. 13th (Netflix)
  3. American Son (Netflix)
  4. See You Yesterday (Netflix)
  5. Dear White People (Netflix)
  6. Freedom Writers (Netflix)
  7. The Hate U Give (Hulu)
  8. If Beale Street Could Talk (Hulu)
  9. 16 Shots (Hulu)
  10. Hidden Figures (Hulu)

10 Children Book that speak about race...

  1. Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up To Be Malcolm X, Ilyasah Shabazz
  2. Let it Shine Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters, Andrea Davis Pinkney
  3. Something Happened in Our Town A Child's Story About Racial Injustice, Ann Hazzard, Marianne Celano, and Marietta Collins
  4. My Hair is a Garden, Cozbi A. Cabrera
  5. My Family Divided, Diane Guerrero
  6. Lailuh's Lunchbox, Reem Faruqi
  7. Moses: When Harriett Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, Carole Boston WeaherFord
  8.  Happy In Our Skin, Fran Manushkin
  9. Little Leaders Bold Women in Black History, Vashti Harrison
  10. A is for Activists, Innosanto Nagara

10 Petitions you can sign...

  1. Arrest Jared Campbell who maced little girl: http://chng.it/wGPvrnB98T
  2. Justice for Sandra Bland: http://chng.it/gMHfz8gsdc
  3. Justice for Breonna Taylor: http://chng.it/2LnHYJnrYK
  4. Justice for Ahmaud Arbery: http://chng.it/mMgKzRTq9w
  5. Implement Mandatory "I can't Breathe" Training to All Police Academies: http://chng.it/ZLqM5kDbF9
  6. Justice for Sean Reed: http://chng.it/VpdQYqxqkR
  7. Justice for Emerald Black: http://chng.it/XfMbjGmKGq
  8. Mandate Police force to take "Racial Biased Test": http://chng.it/MJLzvm8zbm
  9. "Hands Up Act": http://chng.it/xy4GvHDxfS
  10. Justice for George Floyd: http://chng.it/Rsns9HGJPp

10 Organizations you can donate to...

  1. Brooklyn Bail Fund: https://brooklynbailfund.org/
  2. Minnesota Freedom Fund: https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/
  3. This YouTube Video was created to donate if you don't have money. If you click on the link it will take you to the video and ads will play do not skip the ads and that money will be donated to different BLM organizations.
  4. Bail Fund: https://bailproject.org/
  5. Black Lives Matter Foundation: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019
  6. People's City Council Freedom Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/peoples-city-council-ticket-fund
  7. Campaign Zero: https://www.joincampaignzero.org/
  8. Black Vision Collective: https://www.blackvisionsmn.org/
  9. Liberty Fund: https://www.libertyfund.org/
  10. Higher Heights Leadership Fund: https://www.higherheightsleadershipfund.org/donate/

10 Podcast to listen to...

  1. 1619- NY Times
  2. About Race
  3. Seeing White
  4. Code Switch
  5. The Diversity Gap
  6. Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
  7. The Combahee River collective
  8. Pod Save the People
  9. Pod for the Cause
  10. Intersectionality Matters! Hosted by Kimberle Crenshaw

 

 - 06/06/2020 - Yaritza Montiel

Black Lives Matter

In unprecedented times, hate raises; police brutality continues and creates horrible situations for people of color. Which makes you think, why is this still going on in 2020? The truth is that America has not yet evolved to be able to have equality among all races, and with this, it creates deadly scenarios for some people. That makes people fear going outside, fear authority, fear just living in America.

After recent footage of George Floyd getting knelt on by an officer repeating,

"I can't breathe”

the protest broke out, riots followed, as well as various stores in Minneapolis being looted, where the original incident took place. George Floyd was arrested for trying to pay with a counterfeit bill. He was brutally attacked by police for this reason.  People are tired of the racism and are looking to do something about. Once the crowd got "out of control,” they were tear gassed, causing many people to get injured and need to push back. When getting tear-gassed, people ran in a local Target to get supplies. Running into this store led to worse things, eventually looting the Target and other big businesses such Dollar Tree and an Auto Zone.

"Ignorance is bliss for the majority, but ignorance is death for the minority."

The same story every time, just a different person. The hatred has to end, and it’s not going to take one protest or one person speaking up. It’s going to have to be more than that. Racism that happens in the police department is not something that should continue to happen. No one should die because the color of their skin. NO one should be feared because of the color of their skin. This is something more than just one person dying at the cost of a racist police officer. There are so many people who died for reasons they shouldn't have.

Say Their Names

Everyday it’s another life that has been lost due to carelessness. Black people should not have to put their lives at risk just to receive equality. It is sad to see how much progress we have not made as a country, to continue to be living in a time like this. Stay educated and stay informed. Stand for what you believe in, and use your voice, because if you don't, injustice will continue.

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor"    -Desmond Tutu

As the protest continued, the Minnesota National Guard was activated to help aid officers to be able to control the area. None of this would be needed if there was equality, if a Black person would have not lost their life to an unreasonable matter.

Here are some links to support

Donate: https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd

Support: https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/donate

 

 - 05/31/2020 - Yaritza Montiel

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