Stump Goes To Our Nations Capital

On February 10-15, 2006, students and staff of Hartford Communities That Care (HCTC)/ Stump the Violence Youth Leadership attended the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) National Youth Leadership Initiative (NYLI) in Washington, DC. In attendance for this very exciting week long conference were: Chaneen Barrows 8th grade Fox Middle student; Khiree McLeggon 10th grade Weaver High student; Khiree Smith 11th grade Capital Preparatory High School; Joseph Wilkerson 12th grade Pathways to Technology; and Robert Williams 11th grade A.I. Prince Technical School. Joseph Wilkerson and Khiree Smith are members of the CADCA National Youth Leadership Academy and were table facilitators for this conference.

The CADCA/NYLI helps organizations such as HCTC to build their capacity to foster youth leadership in the design, implementation, and evaluation of action strategies to address Underage Drinking and other drug use, including youth violence.

In addition to attending the workshops, Stump youth visited Capital Hill to engage members of our Congressional Delegation: Senator Christopher Dodd, Senator Joe Lieberman and Congressman John Larson. Joseph Wilkerson led the discussions with Congressman John Larson and his staff. Khiree McLeggon engaged Chris Dodd’s staff in discussions relative to Hartford’s need for resources to combat youth violence and drug use. Robert Williams shared his thoughts and educated the staff of Senator Joe Lieberman on issues that face youth in Hartford, CT.

In the case of both Senator Lieberman and Congressman Larson, they each recently put in Bills to address Urban Violence and we wanted to know the status of these Bills. In the case of Senator Chris Dodd, he has been one of the leading proponents for funding drug prevention and early intervention programs geared toward youth. At the conclusion of each of these meetings, the Stump youth requested to be called upon to testify during congressional hearings in Washington, as it relates to youth issues. The Stump youth will also be forwarding written policy and funding recommendations to our Congressional Delegation in the next few weeks.

Special thanks goes out to our sponsors for this conference: Mayor Eddie Perez; Reverend Edwin Ayala- Christian Activities Council; Reverend James Lane-North End Church of Christ, Reverend James Walker-Phillips Metropolitan CME Church and the State of Ct. Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.