Year Up GRADUATE speaks at MTV and YouthBuild USA Event

Year Up 2005 graduate, Rashawn Facey-Castillo gave a speech in Washington D.C. at the OUR AMERICA event, a national Town Hall gathering of low-income young adult leaders designed to elevate the leadership role and voice of young people in our shared national challenge to end poverty in America. Young people from more than 40 national organizations and 25 states explored the theme of America as it is now, and America as it should be, offering their experiences of growing up in low-income communities and families.

Hosted by MTV News Correspondents Sway Calloway and Kim Stolz, this national dialogue included presentations and discussion from young leaders who  vividly defined the problems in their communities—from education to economic opportunity to family support to the environment—generate solutions, and make policy recommendations.

Our America aims to spark a national dialogue on the critical issues facing young people in low-income communities across this country. Participants were encouraged to return home to their communities and take action, as well as to join a new national online community of their peers that will be established through the www.Think.MTV.com website. The site, along with a variety of other communications vehicles, were designed to raise the voices of low-income young people within the political process, foster consideration of their public policy recommendations, and to generate greater engagement to ensure their voices are heard in the political process.

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