A former New York cultural arts administrator and now longtime Kissimmee resident is making an investment of time in helping the area’s youth.
Philip Jackson is at the forefront of the WYE Project, which stands for World Youth Expo.
The WYE Project features a series of themed “creativity workshops” geared toward underprivileged and at-risk youths ages 10-15.
The thinking is that the children of today will be the decision makers of tomorrow. With the pandemic sending their world into a challenging new place, young minds must be nurtured to foster a better future humanity. The hope is to create better leaders who create better communities, a better nation and better global society.
“Every aspect of this workshop project will be carefully documented,” Jackson said. “It is our hope at the conclusion of this first-time project, we’ll have additional projects through which these youths may continue to be mentored for their further growth and development.”
An anonymous benefactor offered a one-time $1,000 donation in the summer of 2019, but any 2020 plans were scrapped by the pandemic.
“We intended to run the program until those funds were used up,” Jackson said. “Since then, we have applied for grants. But we want to get it up and running to honor that donation.”
With public youth programs now back in full swing, Jackson is looking for a government or other entity to partner with. He had hoped to make it a summer program, but is now looking to fashion it into a twice-a-week after school program.
It did have a two-week trial run in June, hosted by Kissimmee’s Marydia community center earlier this summer. It was just one unit of Jackson’s vision of a series of workshops, so it did not conclude with a “Community Showcase” in which the participants would serve as “hosts,” present the works they created to the community and have impromptu talks with visitors about their creations. The hope is that their efforts would inspire other youths in the community.
Jackson shared a plan that would group 10-12 year-olds and 13-15 year-olds to work separately, and bring them together as a single group when the “theme” of that workshop is beneficial.
Jackson’s initial plan themes the sessions; they include exploring personal expression, creating through team efforts, learning strategy through board games, bringing those concepts together to create 3-D objects, and again working as a team to put on the Community Showcase.
Both paid and volunteer staff “who have skills and interests specifically beneficial to the project’s multi-faceted needs,” will be sought out. College interns, specifically those majoring in fields of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) will assist in conducting the workshops and provide any needed tutoring. (All adults who will be working directly with the youths in any capacity will be properly and fully vetted before participating, Jackson said.)
“The feeling is, as we do additional projects, we’ll be learning on that specialized knowledge,” Jackson said.
Special efforts will be made to include disenfranchised students living in poverty and at-risk, or those who don’t perform well in traditional education settings.
“We want to include homeless children, so we’ve approached homeless advocate groups,” Jackson said.
Further information, including about a long-term goal of creating a “Youth Expo Place,” can be found at the WYE website: www.thewyeprojectinc.org. Those interesting in partnering can reach Jackson at philipjackson@thewyeprojectinc.org.
