[lang_en]
Danielle Martin, a graduate student in DUSP, worked with members of Youthbuild Lawrence , a local chapter of YouthBuild USA, to develop their own sense of empowerment in the city and take on the issue of littering in Lawrence.
YouthBuild Lawrence strives to create local programs to low-income young people ages 16–24 working toward their GED or high school diploma while learning job skills by building affordable housing. It was a natural fit for the MIT@Lawrence Program to become involved. With the goal of identifying a local issue that was of importance to the students, acting on it and empowering them through their impact, Danielle set up regular meetings with the group and with individuals. She conducted one-on-one interviews, and group exercises to identify problems in the city they were interested in working on. Once they had picked the issue of littering, the group went about developing a strategy to affect change in the community. Some of their ideas included canvassing local residents about the importance of littering, petitioning the city government to make available sanitation services and creating a multimedia advertising campaign to discuss the importance of this issue and show the commitment of these youths.[/lang_en]