By Chester Williams, A Better Chance A Better Community (ABC2)
ABC2 World Changers presents this first-annual Teen Unity Summit to bring together young people to highlight social issues impacting teens today.
A focus on building self-awareness, self-esteem, a network of support, and young people as Community Agents for Positive Change. The World Changers feel it is necessary to bring teens from across North Carolina and Virginia to build understanding and awareness to have discussions and action planning towards race amity, access to affordable quality health care, education, recreation, and a collective voice.
The Teen Unity Summit will be held on Saturday, April 1, 2017, at Southeast Halifax High School, 16683 Hwy 125, in Halifax NC. Registration and Check-In begins at 8am. The registration fee is $10 per person. Parents and community members are welcome to attend.
The Summit will feature MTV Celebrity Host Travis Demetri, WRAL News Reporter Ken Smith, open discussion in a safe environment for young people and special presenters to help engage in positive conversations on topics such as race, discrimination, education and much more. Also a most anticipated performance by Slender Gamez a local music group. This will be an annual event to empower young people to understand the issues of their communities and formulate an action plan to address those issues. The theme for the Unity Summit is Realizing Our Own Dream in the “Fierce Urgency of Now” The highlight of the summit will be the use of Interactive Theater to promote dialogue and solutions around the ISMs/Social Justice (Homophobia, sexism, classism, racism) at the Teen Unity Summit in Halifax County, NC.
Theater Delta operates on a pedagogy that recognizes when audience members engage characters and conflict on stage, and subsequently participate in a dialogue where they process the issues, they are more likely to explore and change their own behaviors.
The Hidden Voices Art Exhibit will kick-off their month-long showcase of their None of the Above Exhibit. Hidden Voices creates venues where stories from those rarely seen and heard by mainstream society take center stage. These life-changing stories provide insight about identity, place, and access. They help us understand the unrecognized, the unfamiliar, and displaced among us. None of the Above: dismantling the school to prison pipeline invites us to step up and step back. Taking effective action to dismantle our school-to-prison pipeline requires that we understand the bigger picture without losing sight of each other’s most human heart. There are stories here, stories that demand our attention, stories that will open your mind and, we hope, inspire you to action.
The Teen Unity Summit will also include a College/Job/Opportunities fair for young people to have access to resources and programs.
Additional presenters and guests includes: Cheryl Littlejohn, Ronnie Sidney II, Schwanda Bowser, Lashawnda Abrams, Robin Barnes, Sharmel Epps, DJ 3-2-1, local Law Enforcement Officers, NCPTA, Talk It Out NC, EdNC/Reach NC Voices, and many others.
The Teen Unity Summit will be held on Saturday, April 1, 2017. Early Registration is strongly encouraged. Registration is $10/person and covers a Light Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, and Summit Activities.
To request a registration packet please email abetterchanceabettercommunity@gmail.com or contact Chester B. Williams at 252673-6218.
Sponsorship opportunities are available and Volunteers are always welcome.
A Better Chance, A Better Community is celebrating 5 years serving communities in Eastern NC and surrounding areas. A Better Chance, A Better Community is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide the Eastern NC and surrounding areas educational community with innovative opportunities and resources to foster community development, youth empowerment and healthy living activities through a sense of culture, ideas, community and awareness. For registration packet, vendor’s information, sponsorship opportunity, to make a donation or general information contact Chester B. Williams via email or 252.673.6218, or 252.365.9287, or visit the website at abetterchanceabetter.wix.com/abc2.
