Initiatives of Change - News of ACTION for a change in the USA

This week, we brought the world to Bridgeton,” Karen Barnett, director of Youth to Youth, a student development initiative, told her students.

Karen Barnett and Matt at the Closing Ceremony, with ACTION 2006 in Bridgeton, NJ.

On Friday, October 5 the international ACTION team arrived in New Jersey for a week in the historic and racially diverse town of Bridgeton. Focusing was on the future, the ACTION team worked with young people to discuss diversity, building community and resolving conflicts.

The ACTION team met several times with Youth to Youth, a program that creates “drug-free, vice-free and violence-free” places for students to develop. The first workshop included training and a roundtable discussion on the issue of sexual assault. ACTION team members shared reflections on the issue as they saw it in their own countries. Subsequent work included a session on team building which focused on how diversity can made into a strength.

Diversity and inclusiveness became a central theme throughout the week. Bridgeton consists of three major population groups: Hispanics, African-Americans and Whites. Being an international team in a racially diverse community opened a lot of conversations for ACTION. Often times, discussions about diversity in Bridgeton led to self-reflection for the participants.

Angela (Ukraine) said, “Coming from the Crimea where thousands of Crimean Tatars started returning in 1991 after being deported by Stalin in 1945, I have never gotten involved with interethnic problems, because I regarded myself as a color-blind person.

Angela is running part of a two hour workshop given to thirty 8th grade students at the Broad Street School, with ACTION 2006 in Bridgeton, NJ.

“My time in Bridgeton surprised me with the diversity in the city itself, and yet lack of diversity in certain gatherings of people we have visited, like social clubs, churches, etc. Trying to challenge people to be more open, I have also challenged myself to look at my home environment. I realized that I never paid attention at the groups of people I was with and never made an effort to increase the diversity of my own environment.

“The most culturally-mixed places in Bridgeton we visited were schools. That is a great place to start in the Crimea as well. I have no idea what I’m going to do about it yet, but what a revelation this was about myself!”

Further encounters included Bridgeton High School, where the ACTION team shared the Take 5 workshop on conflict resolution, and the Broad Street School, where the team talked about diversity and respect. A special visit to the City Council was one highlight of the week. Many of the ACTION team also had their first experience of an African-American Baptist church service at the Union Baptist Temple on Sunday morning.

Perhaps the most powerful engagement came at the First Presbyterian Church on Wednesday evening. What began as a discussion about faith, quickly transformed into an open forum on race relations. For over an hour, community members exchanged thoughts and ideas on the topic, often becoming very frank and honest about what needs to be done to improve the situation. Following the event, many Bridgeton citizens and ACTION participants noted the power of honest conversation in the church hall that evening.

Selly (Senegal) reflected, “I was very impressed by the openness of the people I met: both young people and adults. They received us as a gift and gave us all their attention. I didn’t expect the high school students to be so interested. I can feel a great future and a unique inter-community dialogue will take place in this city and serve as a model for many others.”

By bringing some of the world to Bridgeton, ACTION encouraged, equipped and celebrated the future of the town. Warmed by the spirit of the community and the spark of many new friends there, the ACTION team packed off for further adventures.

Next stop: Clarksburg, WV.

Read about ACTION in the news:

www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1160545923305050.xml?bridgeton?local_news&coll=10

www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/cumberland/story/6831095p-6697858c.html&cid=0

For more news and photos or to support ACTION, please visit www.action.iofc.org.