I’ll be completely honest, before reading this article I knew little to nothing about Youth in Action. By reading this I got more insight on what goes on in Youth in Action and what it does for not only our youth but our community as a whole. The youth in this group reach out to their communities with real ideas to make some real changes, which I find so fascinating. The article mentioned how youth are not looked at as people, but as children who are dependent on their parents. YIA gives youth the opportunity step out of the role of child and into the role of a leader in their communities. Even in my own home, although I am 23 years old, I am still looked at as a child even though I am a thriving leader in college and have just gotten a job in my career. In a way I believe this is the same as how youth are looked at in our communities.  

     The whole purpose for YIA is to give our youth a voice. A quote that I thought was important was “it’s critical for young people to be at the center of change in every community if we’re ever going to better the world we all know is possible”. I believe it is important because it is saying that the youth is our future and it is up to our youth to build on what we already have for our communities.

     Something I could relate this to, is the volunteer trips I used to take in high school. For two years in a row I went to Philadelphia with the JCC in Providence to help the homeless but it wasn’t your typical “help the homeless trip”. We took a coach bus filled with huge trash bags and suitcases of food, toiletries, and clothes. We went to a countless amount of shelters and learned and talked to many homeless men and women and really listened to their stories so we could come back to our own communities and apply what we saw their to our own communities. By going out and becoming active with a youth group, we were able to take what we learned to help real problems. That is what YIA is doing and I think it is such an amazing opportunity for our youth and all of their communities.