With its roots firmly set in both the American Civil Rights Movement and Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Young People’s Project (YPP) promotes social justice using math literacy. Its programs have spread nationwide, teaching high school students to teach themselves and instilling in college students the value of giving back. YPP’s philosophy is that in math is opportunity and inside every young person is a world of difference, a building block of our shared community. Chad Milner is the YPP Site Director for Greater Boston and National Coordinator of Programs. Hector Acevedo is a YPP Youth Organizer and product of the program. I sat down with Chad and Hector to talk about YPP’s civil rights history, the value of investing in youth, and how math literacy can be a gateway to solving greater social needs.
Cambridge, MA – July 27, 2009 – The Young People’s Project (YPP), a national nonprofit organization that utilizes math literacy as a tool to increase learning opportunities, develop young leaders and foster community building, was awarded a $1.2 million, two-year grant to develop a five-year strategic plan to increase its capacity and impact.
...UIC professors decided to expand the concept into an after-school program, with the help of the national math literacy group, The Young People's Project.
Bob Moses is one of the leading civil rights icons from the 1960s. He was the former field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC. The New York Times once wrote, “In Mississippi, Bob Moses was the equivalent of Martin Luther King.” Moses is also the founder of the Algebra Project, a foundation devoted to improving minority education in math. The author, poet and activist Alice Walker won the 1983 Pulitzer for her book The Color Purple. She has written many other bestselling books, including In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens and Possessing the Secret of Joy.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/20/pulitzer_prize_winning_writer_alice_waters#
