 |
| Keynote Speaker, Former NBA ALL STAR Jayson Williams |
Free
Pittsfield Youth Summit happens Saturday Sept 8th with youth-focused
workshops and keynote speaker, former NBA All Star, Jayson Williams. In
cooperation with Healing Winds and a local group that is working to
reestablish the local chapter of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Jayson Williams, a powerful and
dynamic motivational speaker, will give the keynote talk at the Youth
Summit at 9:30am. Mr. Jayson Williams is the author of “Humbled: Letters from Prison,” and speaks to groups about his experiences as a
professional basketball player, the decisions and circumstances that
ended his career and sent him to jail, and the efforts that he has made
at redemption since his release.
YOUTH SUMMIT ~ DAY IN THE BERKSHIRES
Empower Our Youth
A coalition of city departments, community organizations, and adults
and youth from the local community have come together in hopes of
developing strategies to empower our youth, facilitate communication
between adolescents and adults, demonstrate and teach civic
responsibility, and increase community accountability. The group, called
the
Coalition for Greater Community Collaboration, has organized a
free Pittsfield Youth Summit, to be held on
Saturday, September 8th, from 8:30am to 4:30pm at
Berkshire Community College (1350 West St.) in
Pittsfield, MA.
The Summit is free to all Pittsfield area youth ages 13 to 20, and free bus transportation will be provided.
It begins at 8:30am with registration and a continental breakfast,
followed by welcoming remarks from Pittsfield Mayor Daniel Bianchi and
others.
WORKSHOPS
Following the keynote talk at 9:30am, attendees will have a choice of
workshops followed by lunch (provided at no cost to attendees) and
another workshop session.
Workshop choices sessions include
youth/police relations; health, nutrition and fitness, money management;
race and identity; art and music; how to find and keep a job; and more.
NITE SHOW
In the evening
Berkshire Youth Summit Nite Show
at Berkshire Community College will be offered at 8pm, free to
attendees and $5 for the general public. Performers will include Cloud9,
Youth Alive, hip hop dancers Mackenzie Buckley and Julius Reese, local
singer-songwriter Christine Bile, and special guest rappers Buddha Da
Great from New York City, and Young Gwop Rapper, Hartford, along with
others.
Special Thanks to Our SPONSORS
The Pittsfield Youth Summit’s lead sponsors include Berkshire United
Way, Berkshire Bank Foundation, Greylock Federal Credit Union, the City
of Pittsfield, Berkshire Community College, and others. Members of the
Coalition for Greater Community Collaboration, consists of local
adolescents, youth advocates, the Pittsfield Police Department,
Berkshire County Sheriff’s Office, the City of Pittsfield Office of
Cultural Development, Berkshire Rocks, Multicultural BRIDGE, Healing
Winds and many other local partners.
Special thanks to Massive Graphics
for designing the event logo.
FUTURE GOALS & PLANS
The coalition will continue to meet and develop other initiatives to
accomplish some of their goals. Among the projects that have been
identified are an adolescent drop in center, athletic based mentoring,
and the reinstatement of the Pittsfield Youth Commission. For more
information, visit
http://coalition.pittsfieldpd.org or call 413-841-8770.
Read more about it
here.
A coalition of city departments, community organizations, and adults
and youth from the local community have come together in hopes of
developing strategies to empower our youth, facilitate communication
between adolescents and adults, demonstrate and teach civic
responsibility, and increase community accountability. The group, called
the Coalition for Greater Community Collaboration, has organized a free Pittsfield Youth Summit, to be held on Saturday, September 8th, from 8:30am to 4:30pm at Berkshire Community College (1350 West St.) in Pittsfield, MA.
