The Awakening

A Youth Led Effort to Combat the Forces that Limit the Life, Freedom and Future Economic Opportunity of Youth and Young Adults.

Introduction

In America, many youth are disconnected from the education and workforce systems that are entrusted to help them build a future. In the City of Los Angeles, 1 out of 5 youth are out of work, out of school, and on the streets . With few places to turn, many youth become frustrated, angry, and give up. Apathetic attitudes develop and options become limited to the streets.

		Unfortunately, young people have had few genuine outlets to express their anger about the social, political, and economic conditions that affect their future life chances. As a result, many of these youth channel their frustration into rage, anger, self-destructive behaviors, and sometimes even violence.

A new type of violence has hit the streets of the U.S. Unlike youth-on-youth violence, this violence is perpetuated by society on youth. 50% of youth in the top urban school districts never complete the twelfth grade. With so many youth never completing school, we need to look past parental involvement and personal choice as the culprits.

Therefore it is apparent that many youth, some of whom already have faced many personal, traumatic moments in their lifetime and have experienced discrimination and injustice, are now overwhelmed by anger, fear, and pain. They are longing for a voice of reason and a strategy to escape the conditions in which they find themselves trapped.

	Because young people are the victims of this tragedy, it only seems appropriate that youth themselves are educated and empowered to help each other cope with their feelings and then channel these emotions into actions which will promote life, freedom, and future economic opportunity for themselves and their community.

To this end, YDRF has teamed up with the Krump Kings and created “The Awakening,” a peer-centered process of empowering youth to deal with their anger, fear, and pain to then help them channel these emotions into positive actions for change.

The Awakening will utilize youth popular culture, positive peer influence and youth involvement as the strategy. What follows is a brief outline of “The Awakening” process to help young people respond to the anger and pain that fulfills their lives.

Who are the Krump Kings and YDRF?

After the release of the highly acclaimed movie “RIZE,” several of the young artists in the film formed the Krump Kings. The Krump Kings are a group of the worlds best Krump dancers who are committed to achievement, purpose and promotion of urban youth culture as a positive means for change. YDRF is a nationally know youth research and training firm committed to improving programs and policies for youth and young adults.

What is the Mission of “The Awakening?”

		The mission of “The Awakening” is to help over 100,000 young people cope with economic and social misfortunes in which they find themselves and to take an active role in improving their conditions and the conditions within their community. “The Awakening” uses a youth culturally competent training design contained in the Makin’ it Curriculum and Program Manual created by the Youth Development and Research Fund.

Who are the Peer Support Workers (PSWs)?

This mission will be accomplished by empowering a group of specially trained Krump Kings (PSWs) who will deliver an impactful series of 1.5 hour training sessions designed to address anger, fear, and pain and to promote life, freedom, and future economic opportunity. YDRF senior staff will lead all sessions.

Unlike traditional youth training efforts, Awakening sessions get youth up, moving, and learning through the most influential forces in their lives - their peers, music and dance.

Every “Awakening Unit” contains conceptualized cultural activities designed around training objectives. Through the combination of art and education, young people become active learners having fun and maximizing the unit’s learning objectives.

What are “The Awakening” Sessions?

The Awakening contains seven sessions targeted toward youth. The seven sessions that are available include:

- Infinite Drama

- Anger, Fear, and Pain

- Sexual Exploitation

- Fast Money Disease

- Addressing Racism and Discrimination

- Why are People Poor?

- Building Your Future Economic Opportunity

Each unit can be delivered individually or in combination depending on the time and resources of a particular organization. Each “Awakening” session runs 1.5 hours with no more than 2 sessions delivered in any given day.

To book “The Awakening” at your school or program, call Edward DeJesus at

YDRF: 301-216-2566. or visit www.ydrf.com or www.krumpkings.com