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Progressive Fund Supports Juvenile Justice Group |
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In Dane County and Wisconsin, persistent poverty and racial inequity increase a young person's chances of falling out of the educational system and into the juvenile justice apparatus.
Teen Build-Up was founded by six high school students from the Wexford Ridge Neighborhood on the West side of Madison to educate and empower teens on issues such as inequitable treatment around policing and school discipline.
In 2005 Wisconsin Community Fund, Wisconsin's only statewide community foundation, issued a grant to the Wexford Ridge Neighborhood Center to build the capacity of the multi-racial, youth run program.
"Wisconsin Community Fund supports grassroots groups working to address the root causes of social injustice," said Bruce Moffat, Executive Director for the Fund. "Wexford Ridge Neighborhood Center's Teen Build-Up exemplifies this kind of social justice grantmaking."
"Youth organizing, knowing your rights with the police, healthy dating relationships, gun violence, and second generation leadership are issues that impact the lives of youth in the neighborhood," said Paul Terranova, Wexford Ridge Neighborhood Center Executive Director. "Wisconsin Community Fund's grant has been instrumental in providing educational opportunities for youth through peer-to-peer learning, street outreach, and conferences."
Teen Build-Up has been a stunning success in its three years of operation. It now has a core leadership group of fifteen youths from three Madison-area high schools and has reached over 200 middle school and high school students in Dane County through workshops and outreach projects. Eleven of the core leaders participated in a basic organizing skills training through Madison's premiere Youth Organizer Train the Trainer Retreat.
"It is the success of programs like Teen Build-Up that give the Fund the inspiration to continue our unique niche as an incubator of progressive grassroots groups around the state," said Bruce Moffat, executive director of Wisconsin Community Fund.
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| "Wisconsin Community Fund really understands how critical grassroots organizing and leadership development is to the health of the community. The Fund's long-term commitment to programs like Teen Build-Up helps build support for community change from the grassroots up," said Paul Terranova, Wexford Ridge Neighborhood Center Executive Director. |
