Kensington: Group Gives Voice to Young People Working for Change

SignsYouth United for Change (YUC) is an organization that focuses on helping youth to express issues they see in their schools and neighborhoods.

Another one of the primary functions of YUC is to help its members organize and give them a platform to be heard.

YUC is based in the Kensington area of Philadelphia but there are six chapters across the city: Edison, Mastbaum, Olney High School, Kensington High School and Pushed-Out Youth, as well as a citywide chapter.

The Pushed-Out Youth chapter functions to serve youth who are no longer attending school. The citywide chapter allows for students all over Philadelphia to become YUC members. YUC3 Members are provided tokens for transportation to the Kensington location, which is located a short walk away from the Berks stop on the Market-Frankford line.

Although it maintains a close-knit adult staff, YUC allows for its youth members to operate as the leaders of the organization.

The youth members often lead peer education sessions at meetings, as well as they set the tone by bringing the issues that they feel are most important to the table.

Many members in the organization have dealt with various barriers but they maintain hope that through their work they can change the community.

 

– Text, images and video by Christian Morris

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