Yellow in the Bronx

Heyo there

So i’ve been wanting to give an update about my internship. So… I work for a Christian non profit organization called Urban Youth Alliance International in the heart of the bronx. I am the yellow kid in the bronx. And to be honest with you, i love every bit of it. I actually love the fact that I’m surrounded by no one like me and they all treat me the same. I love being the only asian i see from 9am to 5pm mondays through thursdays. My brothers and sisters from another mothas are awesomeness and I love their company.

So the organization runs two things.

One is a Christian campus ministry called Seekers. they take care of about 25 high schools and 4 colleges in the NYC and Long Island area. I was a member of this ministry when I was in high school which introduced me to the organization. I currently work more with this side of the organization. I’m working with another friend who goes to Ithaca College, Lydia Nitchman. We both were a part of Seekers in high school and it was a really big part of our lives in high school so helping out seemed logical and a good decision.

we worked on a making a website for the christian fellowship for the kids to use with resources on there for them. you can check it out if you want. seekerscf.wordpress.com

we plan to buy the domain and continue to use it.

the other is called Bronx Connect. There are two programs a part of this one.One is ATD (Alternative to Detention) and ATI (Alternative to Incarceration). It’s pretty crazy. This part of teh organization definitely surprised me more when I started working.

So ATD, alternative to detention, is a program which works with kids who are involved with the court system, mostly family court (ages 12-15) but havent been sentenced yet, so they’re still in the process. there are case managers who work with these kids to keep them from making the same mistakes twice or again in any form. They also try to get them to court on time and basically get them back on track and to making better decisions. Kids go into this program for about 4 months.

In ATI, Alternative to incarceration, the kids (older, from 14-19) are already sentenced and have already pleaded guilty. So the case managers work with them to point them in the right direction and to see if they can stay out of trouble for about a year.

I learned that 75% of these kids are involved with gangs, most of them come from rough families who either don’t care about them or just aren’t there. And for the ATD program, apparently most of the girls are in there for fighting whereas the guys are in there for stealing. The director was telling me that girls fight cuz they don’t have a need for money cuz they can just get guys to get stuff for them and they just are really bored most of teh time. Lol, imagine that. Well, i guess fights happen easier if you’re restless. And the guys, apparently the pressure to look good is always high and sometimes stealing is the only way to go. Some of these kids go mad far to look good even though they know they don’t have the money for it. It’s all really interesting. This is just a rambling of thoughts.

I work on a computer most of the time in the main room which is also where the kids wait to talk to their case managers. So i take the chance to initiate and introduce myself and try my best to get to know them a little bit. All the kids are mad friendly. All of them just put up a front. They try to act tough like they’re wsup, you know. Most of the kids I’ve met got their first tattoo around 12 years old and by now probably have around 3-5 on them. haha. I made fun of one of the kids after i found out he tattood his own name on his arm. lol, he had this smile on his face like he knew it was a mad stupid move too haha.

I was supposed to do some kind of class with them about health but i never got around to it and they’re not pushing me on it either, lol, which isn’t good haha.

yea. just a short updates. I have lots of other thoughts. Pray for the kids here in the bronx. They need far more prayer than I ever need.

more updates later.

Poonie out