Teens Organize to Improve School, Neighborhood Life

Roselyn Warnock remembers how a friend responded when she recently described herself as a political activist. He chuckled.

“I guess being a female and as young as I am, he thought it was impossible,” recalled Roselyn, a serious young woman with a huge smile.

She is 16 and a junior at Crenshaw High School, and for a year has spent many hours volunteering for a group called Youth United for Community Action, which, true to its name, is composed of and led by people like Roselyn.

And like Takita Salisberry, 16, another Crenshaw junior who talks of finding ways to improve her school and neighborhood.

On Saturday, Roselyn, Takita and about 200 other young people gathered at the Watts Labor Community Action Center for the fourth Annual Youth in Action conference to brainstorm over the subject that has consumed young people throughout history: how to make their voices heard in a world that doesn’t always want to listen.

There were workshops on networking, public speaking, sexual harassment, police/youth interaction and 1960s liberation groups such as the Black Panthers and the American Indian Movement.

The participants are representative of Los Angeles teens who are eager to channel their energy into making a difference.

They are doing so in a swelling number of youth-run groups, such as Southern Californians for Youth, Youth for Environmental Justice, South Central Youth Empowered Through Action, InnerCity Struggle, Youth Organizing Communities and WISE UP.

Their concerns include the environment, youth labor, immigrant’s rights and education.

Roselyn’s and Takita’s Youth United for Community Action, for example, won student representation on the board of the Los Angeles school reform group LEARN and fought for better bathroom conditions and to improve communications between students and teachers.

At a time when they might be fixated on dating or partying, why do these young people itch to do something more?

Takita says she inherited an activist spirit from her mother. But her appetite for real issues is rarely fed by a society and media that seem to pander to teens.

“All the media seem to want to talk about is celebrities, but celebrities aren’t going to get me into college,” said Takita, who wants to attend New York University and become a school psychologist.

Roselyn said many feel powerless.

“Some feel like they have nowhere to turn and that whatever they do is not going to really help them,” she said.

“But recently we have a lot of students coming to meetings. It’s easier for someone like me to talk to them because I’m a youth, I live in the same community and I’m dealing with the same issues.”

The Los Angeles Times is highlighting local programs that serve youths and families in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties as part of its Holiday Campaign to help raise money for worthy causes.

The program is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, which includes the long-running summer camp program. The McCormick Tribune Foundation will match the first $500,000 in donations at 50 cents on the dollar, and The Times will absorb all administrative costs.

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