The Island has 13 new youth ambassadors, newly trained in life skills and ways to help and promote their community.
On Friday, Aug. 23, the group, who range in age from 12 to 15, celebrated the completion of the Island Civic Association Youth Ambassador’s summer program, designed to teach the participants life-skills and civic engagement. The program pays youth to attend workshops and organize local events with the expectation they will use their new skills in school and beyond.
The Island is a portion of Austin south of the Eisenhower Expressway.
Sonya Rich, the program coordinator, created the Island Youth Ambassador program last year to target 12- to 15-year-olds in the community. She organizes and coordinates the entire Island Youth Ambassador program. Rich, a school social worker, is fluent in Spanish and helped translate with a few of the primarily Spanish-speaking ambassadors this year.
“It was really cool to be able to include them … to help them meet other people and get integrated in the neighborhood. They provide a lot of value to our neighborhood and a lot of value to the program too with their language and culture,” Rich said.
Dr. Deondre Rutues, a resident of The Island and a volunteer leader, said the program aims to give youth a head start in community building.
He said that he’s seen block clubs in The Island dissolve and as community members age, he doesn’t see many opportunities for youth to “pick up the baton.” This program, he said, helps fill the gap.
“It’s just this opportunity, in a nutshell, to have them become the face of the community, when these older folks can no longer do it. Which is one of the issues that we have at the block club that exists currently,” Rutues said. “Also, just preparing them for life in general.”
This summer, the number of ambassadors nearly doubled, from six last year to 13 this year. Some of the participants were primarily Spanish-speaking. There was also an active group of parent volunteers to help run the program.
The Island Youth Ambassadors are funded by sponsorships from Rep. La Shawn K. Ford; Christopher Taliaferro, alderman of the 29th ward; Nate Tubbs, president of The Island Civic Association; and Boost Mobile.
The ambassadors had 10 mandatory work-hours and were paid $15 per hour for attending workshops and engaging with the community. Their hours were filled with monthly association meetings, life-skill building workshops and community events including organizing “play-lot nights” at the George Rogers Clark Elementary School and working in a local community garden.
This year Rutues, who holds a doctorate in business psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, also introduced the topic of “psychological capital.” This is an approach to mental well-being that focuses on the healthy psychological states of hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism, Rutues said.
He said he is using his past research on adults in business settings and tailoring it to youth in an academic setting.
“As all of them are getting prepared to go back to school, we just gave them some tools that they could use to help build hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism,” he said. “When they’re in their school settings, they can approach it in a way that builds all of those facets.”
Participants had high opinions of what they learned.
Simone Merrick, 15, who also was an ambassador last year, said the workshops were a highlight of her summer. She learned from local civic leaders and gained public speaking skills during the workshops, but it didn’t feel like work.
“Being here wouldn’t even feel like civic engagement. You end up enjoying yourself after a while and wanting to actually come to more events,” she said. “Rather than it feeling like work, it kind of feels like meeting up with a group of friends and doing a bunch of, like, really cool things.”
She added: “It’s really simple, but like, way more impactful than you would probably ever know. It feels good to help people out.”
Henry Ellis, a youth ambassador who was also in the program last year, said he learned a lot about resilience this summer. Henry, who is 14 years old and plays football, broke his leg earlier this year, and has been on the mend. He planned on playing his usual position, defensive end, on the football team this season, but has had to sideline his plans – for now.
He is using the skills Rutues taught in their workshops as he heals and said he will use what he’s learned during this coming school year as a freshman at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School.
“This program has taught not just like ‘kid’ lessons, but adult lessons and life lessons. Just different things about hope and resilience. I broke my leg, but you know, I’m focusing on recovery and trying to be 100%, but still get stronger,” Henry said.
Taliaferro, the alderman of the 29th Ward who helped sponsor the ambassadors, was in attendance at the event on Friday. He said engaging community members at young ages can make a difference in their neighborhood.
“It gives our community an opportunity to grow, and it gives our youth an opportunity to grow. I’m very proud of all the graduates, and I’m glad to have been able to participate in the program this year,” Taliaferro said.