The Young People’s Project Receives Planning Grant from Atlantic Philanthropies

YPP was recently awarded a $1.2mm grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies, an international foundation committed to children and youth. The two-year grant will support YPP’s efforts to increase its national staff, improve its governance structure, and refine its organizational model to increase effectiveness and expand impact. As a result, YPP will be able to cultivate a national network of young Learners, Teachers, Leaders, and Organizers that are accelerating themselves, improving educational outcomes for young people across the country and building demand for high quality education for all children in the country.

Click Here to view the entire Press Release.

A YPP Leader on the Move!

Javier Maisonet’s leadership journey is personal, passionate and pioneering. Javier was introduced to YPP Chicago as a high school senior in 2003 through a mentor. He began his training as a MLW and was member of Chicago’s first Cohort. Javier modestly recalls “Math wasn’t always a strong subject, but YPP raised (his) interest in new math concepts.” He was continuously challenged and engaged by teaching others- the chance to teach younger students and connect to YPP leadership nationally inspired Javier’s growth within YPP. He became a CMLW while attending DePaul University. Not only was Javier YPP Chicago’s first full-time trainer, he also participated in every TOT program to date, creating a leadership pathway for others to follow. As YPP Chicago’s Interim Director, Javier is launching the National Flagway Campaign, creating new curricula and forging thriving strategic partnerships. Connect with Javier directly, a YPP leader on the move! ....YPP Chicago
....Cryptography Project Collaboration in Chicago

MS Institute Hosts YPP Miami

YPP Mississippi Institute is a national training and exchange experience for youth from Michigan, Cambridge and Miami. Led by Sharayna Rolle, 30 students travelled from YPP Miami to experience the MS institute and engage in local learning opportunities including a tour of Jackson, MS. The students visited historic sites such as the home of Medgar Evers and the Brinckley Middle School, where YPP was founded in 1996. Albert Sykes shared personal and strategic insights about the importance of the communities throughout Mississippi in the growing movement of YPP. The highlight of the visit was a peer learning exchange at Jackson State University where newly trained High School Students from MS practiced new teaching techniques with visiting students from Miami. The students also interviewed each other with their flip-cams, a training tool used in the MS Institute Media Literacy program facilitated by Antwan Gonsalves. The students shared stories, local knowledge and good times at the MS Institute.

YPP L.A.: In Their Words

L.A. MLWs at Franlin High Scool in Los Angeles (from left to right): Yvonne, Salvador, Joe, Yessell, Damien, Luis, Christian, Charlene, Korina, Riki

WHO...? We are a team of four [out of twelve] that are represetning YPP here at Franklin High School.

WHAT...? We recently began to work with Franklin HS students on behalf of YPP and are currently introducing the "Red, Yellow, Blue Rules" [from the Flagway Module] to the students. Lately we have played the games: Walk My Color, Octopus, Factor Game, and Flagway Baseball.

WHEN...? We began working on YPP with the Franklin Students since July 6th, and for the summer sesion we plan to finish on August 14th. We teach from 12:30pm - 3:30pm.

WHERE...? We teach here at Franklin High School after summer school finishes.

WHY...? We enjoy working together and we enjoy spending time and working with students here at Franklin.

- Salvador Perez, Yessel Andrade, Chrisian Gonzalez & Yvonne Garcia

More info on YPP in LA

YPP Collaborates with The Algebra Project 2009 Summer Teacher Institute (Chicago)

Michigan Math Literacy Worker, Solomon James IV (left in blue jacket), with Algebra Project students from Ypsilanti, Michigan at the Summer Teacher Institute in Chicago.

The daily schedule for the Summer Institute was four hours of Algebra Project work in two hour blocks and three hours of YPP work.

The Algebra Project work consisted of Trip Line, Road Coloring, and Race Against Time. These activities together covered solving inequalities, systems of equations and matrices, and vector addition/subtraction.

YPP worked on community organizing, leadership, and the Flagway [math curriculum]. So all this didn't leave much time for developing a sense of unity amongst the group or simple fun activities until Naama suggested we do so. One night after dinner we played a fun math icebreaker, Slaps & Taps, Common Ground, and then we did affirmations like "I am powerful, I can change the world, etc". It was really great to see people laughing and fellowship with one another. In all, our students came together and made a great effort to participant and learn from one another.

~ Brett Cunningham, Instructor, YPP Michigan

Ypsilanti & Willow Run YPP High School Math Literacy Worker Camp in Michigan

Eastern Michigan University GEAR-UP, in partnership with YPP Michigan, sponsored a 2-week Math Literacy Worker Camp which was a compilation of YPP's "greatest hits." Math activities ranged from the "Factor Board Game" and the "T-Point Module" to the "Addition/Subtraction Module," as well as some new activities created by our own staff.

One game we created was called, "Cups and Counters". Students are given 16 cups and a pile of hair beads. Eight cups were assigned to one variable (x) and other 8 were assigned to a different variable (y). Then the students are asked to assign a value, between 2-9, to each variable. One variable will be that teams' secret, or unknown, number. The other variable is the known number. The known number is the number of beads that go into each cup for that variable. At this point, students come up with a math problem that they represent throught the number of cups they use and the total amount of beads. For example, one math problem could be 4x + 2y = 16. So there would be four x cups and two y cups and a 4 by 4 grid of beads to represent 16. Students would recognize the known variable because each one of those cups would have beads in them, while the other variable does not. After this is done teams switch stations and use the cups and counters to solve for the missing variable.

In additon, to the algebra learned in that game, the MLWs learned everything from fractions, prime/composite to matrices and systems of equations. Moreover, social justice activities were in the house. MLWs tackled the complexities of property taxes and millage rates to youth activism from fellow MLWs around the country. CMLWs and Instructors hoped this camp would train and recruit more MLWs from Ypsilanti and Willow Run for the upcoming fall Flagway session. The camp was a great success!

For more info on YPP in Michgan, contact Andrea Bachman or Brett Cunningham.