Support our homies from the FCC Kabataan Program!

Support the Kabataan Program! from pele pino on Vimeo.

Yo, what’s up folks? I’m sure most of you PYCers are at school right now but I wanted to give you an update about a program similar to PYC going on at FCC. Looks like they are losing funding and folks are going to rally to help support them. Even though you may not be able to attend the rally, it’s good to see what other work our community is doing and the real issues effecting them.

What would you do if they took away your Fil-Am Clubs or even PYC ? Let us know how you feel in the comments section.

Anyways, here’s a little bit for info from their vimeo link:

Kabataan means youth in Tagalog.

Over the past 3 years, FCC’s Kabataan program has provided critical support and leadership development for over 60 youth each year, literally turning around the lives of both in-school and out-of-school youth. Our program staff initially developed a safe and vital space at our center as an integral part of the Excelsior community’s health and future, not only for Filipino youth to gather, but for youth of all backgrounds to create positive and meaningful events and activities that reverberate today in long-term community partnerships and decreased cross-community tension.

Throughout the years, youth and their advocates have reached out to our staff members on a daily basis for mentorship, help, and support, including Balboa High School’s leadership team, which this year specifically asked for FCC’s support to address the school’s disconnect with their struggling recent immigrant Filipino student population. It is because of our youth programs that the population of nearly 1000 Filipino youth in the neighborhood have a trusted place to go when they are in danger of failing school, encounter domestic violence or substance abuse, get in trouble with the criminal justice system, or face the long-lasting and at times explosive tension between recent immigrant and American born and raised Filipinos.

It is the FCC’s organized community facilitation and empowerment resources which Balboa’s leadership team sought out specifically to help their students cope with and overcome the pressures of their families and communities that spilled beyond the campus gates and affected their success in school and life in general.

Today April 28th, 2010 the Kabataan youth program has been put on the chopping block by San Francisco’s de-prioritization of youth services and education.

Alongside our community allies today Kabataan and the FCC will rally at City Hall to demand the restoration of funds to our youth program.

Come thru 2pm at City Hall to show your support or write a letter of support.