Senator John Kerry Visits Youth Action YouthBuild in East Harlem

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YouthBuild is the youth program that John Kerry spoke of in the Wisconsin debate as the accomplishment in relation to minorities that he was the most proud of.


Senator John Kerry Visited Youth Action YouthBuild in
East Harlem, N.Y. On Tuesday March 11
http://www.youthbuild.org/events_kerrynewyork.html

U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) visited Youth Action YouthBuild in East Harlem. He was greeted by youth and directors from five local
YouthBuild programs: Youth Action Programs and Homes (East Harlem, N.Y.), YouthBuild SOBRO (Bronx, N.Y.), Flushing YMCA YouthBuild (Flushing, N.Y.), Promesa (South Bronx, N.Y.), and Isles YouthBuild (Trenton, N.J.).

Senator Kerry talked with a group of students, learned some construction skills and spoke to the assembled crowd. He reiterated his commitment to YouthBuild, saying his goal was to secure enough funding so no young person has to be turned away from the program

Senator Kerry, a longtime advocate and supporter of YouthBuild, visited his first YouthBuild program, YouthBuild Boston, in 1991.

Since then he has visited numerous programs and helped secure YouthBuild legislation. Kerry has always been responsive and open to hearing from their youth and their stories and needs, and each year he has sponsored the "Dear Colleague" letter to the senate, helping to build bipartisan support of 63 senators for the expansion and development of YouthBuild.



History: In 1978, Dorothy Stoneman, asked neighborhood teens in East Harlem how they would improve their community if they had adults supporting them. The students answered, “We’d rebuild the houses. We’d take empty buildings back from the drug dealers and eliminate crime.” Together they formed the Youth Action Program and renovated the first YouthBuild building. They replicated the program in 5 locations in New York City during the eighties. In 1990, YouthBuild USA was founded to orchestrate the national replication. By the early 1990’s the program had been replicated in 11 cities nationwide and had been added as a line item in the federal budget. Since its inception in 1978 thousands of people have contributed to the YouthBuild movement which has been called “a wellspring of human reclamation” by The New York Times.

Recognition: YouthBuild USA was named one America’s 100 Best Charities by Worth magazine in 2002. In honor of the success of YouthBuild and her contribution to the field, Dorothy Stoneman was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 1996 and the Independent Sector’s annual John Gardner Leadership Award in 2000.
http://www.youthbuild.org/about_history.html


HUD Funding of Youthbuild Programs
http://www.youthbuild.org/about_partners.html

The Youthbuild Act (H.R. 501) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Major Owens of Brooklyn in 1990. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts introduced it in the Senate as S. 1100 in 1991. These two elected officials have effectively championed YouthBuild ever since.

After two years of energetic advocacy by the YouthBuild Coalition, in concert with Sen. Kerry and Rep. Owens, the bill was passed into law as "Subtitle D--Hope for Youth: Youthbuild" in the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992. Continued advocacy, coupled with the inspiring success of local YouthBuild programs, resulted in annual appropriations administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through a competitive process.


The Youthbuild Act can be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/r102query.html

( check the 103rd Congress link and enter in the search box: The Youthbuild Act)

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1. correction

The Youthbuild Act can be found at: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/r102query.html

( check the 102nd Congress link and enter in the search box: The Youthbuild Act)