Youth Action Changes Things (Y-ACT)
Y-ACT was founded by two Mexican-American young women who experienced health problems due to poor housing conditions in their neighborhood. They began organizing other youth from immigrant families around access to safe and healthy housing. In 2007, our youth leaders won a meeting with New York City Department of Health (DOH) and began conducting Participant Action Research (PAR) in order to elevate the stories and experiences of Mexican-American youth in Sunset Park and today contribute to the expansion of the Safe Housing Act to include asthmas triggers in its enforcement policies. Upon this victory, Y-ACT took the lead in addressing disparities in the public school system, collecting stories of Mexican immigrant youth in Sunset Park and documenting discriminatory practices of guidance counselors who discouraged them from finishing high school and/or applying to college because their parents were undocumented immigrants.
Today, Y-ACT continues working on both environmental and educational justice issues. Last summer our youth leaders conducted participant action research to assess the affordability and access to fresh healthy food in the neighborhood and also worked in partnership with La Unión’s adult members in forming Sunset Park’s first urban farming project, Granja Los Colibries. Y-ACT also continues their work in achieving a pathway to citizenship for undocumented youth with the DREAM Act and Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
Check out our video, produced by Y-ACT leaders:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqbu2PK0B2I
In New York City, housing conditions are making Latino families sick. We wanted the Department of Health to hear the real stories of Latino families. We created this picture documentary, but the Department of Health refused our invitation to watch it. We had to go to the media to tell our story.
We are Y-ACT: Youth Action Changes Things
This is what we found on our way to Margarita’s and Elizabeth’s house in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.