What’s Next For YouthBuild?

Teacher Reflections, Youthbuild, , , , , , ,

As we look towards the future, we are focused on deepening our partnerships with community organizations, and expanding our outreach and education.

Student dressed in YouthBuild uniform stands next to State Representative Elizabeth Fiedler. They are holding a coat rack made of repurposed materials. In the background is a display of hand tools and solar technology.
Our student leader Taj meeting with state representative Elizabeth Fiedler about the clean air act.
Taj build this coat rack out of repurposed and recycled materials.
Student dressed in YouthBuild uniform stands with State Representative Elizabeth Fiedler in a hallway in front of a sign that reads "GREENBUILD"
Taj and Rep Fiedler in front of the GREENBUILD sign at our school.
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Guerilla Gardening

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Students became interested in the concept of guerrilla gardening after doing a different unit involving guerrilla style sticker campaigning around issues that they cared about. Something about doing something that you’re technically not really supposed to do speaks to a certain part of the teenage soul. 10th grade students worked with Anna Herman and the AFNR seniors to learn how to make pollinator seed balls. Read more

Trip to Iglesias Gardens and Phone Zap

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10th grade students went on a trip to Iglesias Gardens to learn more about how gentrification and development is impacting the community land reclamation movement in Philadelphia. Mr. Anthony from the gardens talked to students about the complex legal nightmare that entraps a lot of land stewards and the systems that contribute to their land being taken away. Read more

Complex Relationships with Land Explorations

Teacher Reflections, U School, , ,

We had discussions about how, while growing things and connecting with nature should be a happy and positive experience, because of this country’s violence against people and the earth, those relationships can actually be very traumatic.

We looked at different groups of people’s historically traumatic relationships with land. We included US mainland indigenous people, native Hawaiians, descendants of enslaved Africans, Puerto Rican people, poor white mine/extraction workers, and Black Philadelphians. Read more