Civic Spring: Summer 2023

Meet The Fellows

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Co-Creation Generation

How to create powerful youth-adult partnerships in your community

Civic Spring Fellows are young people age 14-24 or members of youth-centered organizations who are working on projects that address a local community need.

2023 Civic Spring Fellows

New Class of Gen-Zers Named as Civic Spring Fellows

Sophia Awuzie

Sophia is a high school senior. The purpose of her project is to teach young people about history and historical events through film and theatre. Her project, History Books on Broadway, aims to make historical content engaging and relevant to a younger audience by writing, producing, and performing a Broadway-style show about historical topics.

Quinesha Barrow

Quinesha is working on a project to increase awareness of education opportunities for low-income high school students of color. Through her project, Awareness for Free, she plans to make a free database of available opportunities and programs that can assist high school students with navigating the college application process and finding internships, scholarships, and civic programs.

Morgan Caswell

Morgan's project, Museum Student Access Program, aims to expand experiential learning opportunities for low-income students by creating connections between museums and the surrounding low-income communities.

Naimisha Chakravadhanula

Naimisha is a high school junior. She is working with Sruti Peddi on their project, Government of Youth. The project aims to address the lack of adequate civic education and increase civic engagement. The pair plan to host speaker and leadership events at local high schools, record and disseminate interviews with local activists and leaders, and plan a field trip opportunity for underprivileged students to visit the Arizona State Capitol.

Jerry Chen

Jerry is a freshman at Boston University. His project, Legal Studies Institute, aims to address the lack of legal education, especially for middle and high school students. He plans to pilot a program for young people between the ages of 14 and 17 to learn their civil rights, get introduced to the law, and connect with attorneys and law students who can serve as mentors.

Queena Chen

Queena is a high school junior. She is partnering with Tino Karakousis and Tahsin Zaman on their project, Phonetic. They plan to create a translation app that address the inequity caused by language barriers between immigrant families and English-speaking families.

Miles Diggs

Miles is a sophomore at Huston-Tillotson University. His project, G.E.M.S. (General Educational Minority Support), aims to address the failures in the education system, specifically for students of color, by conducting workshops and surveys with students, administrators, and educators. He hopes to facilitate shared problem solving in the local education system.

Amira Haynesworth

Amira is a high school sophomore. Her project, Flip Over Philly, aims to address the lack of school funding. She plans to record interview with students and teachers, using the qualitative data and videos to advocate for a new budget system.

Viktor Kagan

Viktor is a college junior at Yale University. His project, Connecting the Dots, aims to make Philadelphia more accessible to people without access to a personal vehicle. He plans to survey and map communities that lack sidewalks, propose environmentally conscious plans, and advocate for funding and implementation at the city, state, and federal level.

Tino Karakousis

Tino is a high school junior. He is partnering with Queena Chen and Tahsin Zaman on their project, Phonetic. They plan to create a translation app that address the inequity caused by language barriers between immigrant families and English-speaking families.

Jaisveen Kaur

Jaisveen is a high school junior. Her project, Education in Crisis, aims to address the lack of motivation in students by seeking new ways to encourage them to work hard and achieve long-term success.

Lina Lin

Lina is a high school senior. Her project, Access New Horizons, aims to fight the education and economic equality gap in Harlem through events that provide resources to residents.

Sophia Lin

Sophia is a high school sophomore. Her project, Arizona S.M.A.R.T. (Success Magnified by Assessing, Reaching, Teaching), aims to address the need to bridge education gaps in Arizona among economically, socially, racially, and physically diverse groups. She plans to design free and high-quality programs, like FASFA training and information campaigns, so students can be informed of their post-high school options. This work builds on the non-profit organization, iReach, that she co-founded.

Arnold Ludd

Arnold is a college sophomore at City Tech College. The purpose of his project is to prevent and counteract gun violence and provide a safe space for teens to unpack issues, learn from experts, and receive fitness training from professional trainers. He co-founded Jiggabite Gloves Up, Guns Down, and hopes to expand beyond the 5 NYC Public Schools where the program is already operating.

Nyarai Masoni

Nyarai is a high school senior. Her project, Education Transformation, aims is to address racial and economic inequalities in the education system. She plans to conduct qualitative and quantitative research around student attitudes related to schools. She’ll then use this data to inform the development of new educational programming and in advocacy presentations to local politicians.

Punarvash Mitta

Punarvash is a high school junior. His project, KidsTae, aims to provide virtual and in-person martial arts classes that focus on stretching, meditation, and mental relief to combat the mental health strain of COVID-19.

Farah Mohamed

Farah is a youth outreach and engagement specialist at the Goodwill REC Youth Program. He is working with Samuel Turner and Myleigh Truitt on their project, MIA (Mental Health Awareness). His project aims to address mental health struggles stemming from previous untreated trauma that influence young people’s abilities to stay in school, get a job or keep a job. The team plans to host an event for local Opportunity Youth that will serve as a forum in which to discuss their mental health challenges and access resources and tools to help cope.

Nigel Ousey

Nigel started a non-profit called See Beyond My Skin when he was twelve years old. Now 21, his additional hobbies include video games and science fiction. His project will continue the work of the non-profit by collecting personal stories from people of color. He plans to produce and disseminate these stories on the internet, radio, and as a traveling exhibit in an effort to break down racist perspectives.

Sruti Peddi

Sruti is a high school junior. She is working with Naimisha Chakravadhanula on their project, Government of Youth. The project aims to address the lack of adequate civic education and increase civic engagement. The pair plan to host speaker and leadership events at local high schools, record and disseminate interviews with local activists and leaders, and plan a field trip opportunity for underprivileged students to visit the Arizona State Capitol.

Maritza Roberts-Padilla

Maritza is a high school junior. Her project, ISL Matters (Increasing Sexual Literacy Matters), aims to bridge the sexual health knowledge gap among teenagers from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. She plans to create a website for teens to enhancing their knowledge and access to information about sexual health, basic anatomy, and proper hygienic care.

Daniella Sanchez Barillas

Daniella is a high school senior. Her project, Butterbeans Food Distribution, aims to redistribute leftover food to reduce the overwhelming food waste currently taking place at her school.

Reese Sanderson

Reese is a high school sophomore. Her project, Teen Mental Health: Out in the Open, aims to address the decline in mental health in teenagers as a result of the pandemic. She plans to create a website and social media campaign for teens that builds awareness about mental health issues and provides access to available resources.

Samantha Sandhaus

Samantha is a high school junior. Her project, Repurpose and Distribute Excess (RADE), aims to combat the issues of food waste and insecurity in Philadelphia by repurposing unopened food to provide a supplemental resource of food security for the community at large.

Cole Shamis

Cole is a high school freshman. His project, Bridging Philadelphia’s Inequality Gap, aims to address the lack of accessibility to resources, education, facilities, and opportunities from one neighborhood to another by uniting young people, leaders, and elected officials to enact policy changes.

Kasey Shamis

Kasey is a high school senior. Her project, Combatting Violence in Philly with Photojournalism, aims to address ongoing violence issues through photojournalism. She plans to tap schools and youth communities as a way of expanding her project.

Savannah Smalley

Savannah is a high school senior. She is partnering with her brother, Sultan Smalley, on their project, Treetop Philadelphia. The project aims to address the lack of trees in neighborhoods that were traditionally redlined.

Sultan Smalley

Sultan is a high school senior. He is partnering with his sister, Savannah Smalley, on their project, Treetop Philadelphia. The project aims to address the lack of trees in neighborhoods that were traditionally redlined.

Myleigha Truitt

Myleigha is an Outreach Specialist at a Youth Reengagement Center. She is working with Samuel Turner and Farah Mohamed on their project, MIA (Mental Health Awareness). Their project aims to address mental health struggles stemming from previous untreated trauma that influence a young person’s ability to stay in school and get or keep a job.

Samuel Turner

Samuel is a Youth Peer Outreach & Engagement Specialist at Goodwill Metro/REC. He is working with Myleigha Truitt and Farah Mohamed on their project, MIA (Mental Health Awareness). Their project aims to address mental health struggles stemming from previous untreated trauma that influence a young person’s ability to stay in school and get or keep a job.

Liliana Vidales

Liliana is a high school senior. Her project, Girl Talk Female Wellness, aims to provide female hygiene products throughout bathrooms at her school and to develop a trust system among young women.

Kilan White

Kilan is a college freshman at the University of Arizona. His project, Tucson Treblemakers, aims to address the challenges faced by music programs at Title 1 schools due to insufficient funding by providing high school students in the Tucson area access to free private music lessons.

Jinyu Xu

Jinyu is a high school junior. Her project, Reducing Prenatal Health Disparities in Minority Women to Ensure a Safe Community, aims to address the disparities in health education in NYC public schools by developing and disseminating prenatal educational materials for school health classes.

Tahsin Zaman

Tahsin is a high school junior interested in technology. He is partnering with Queena Chen and Tino Karakousis on their project, Phonetic. The team plans to create a user friendly and well-circulated translation app to address the lack of accessible tools and resources for immigrant populations.

2022 Civic Spring Fellows

Community Rising

Philadelphia, PA

Students and youth leaders from low-income communities of color will work to connect communities with mental health resources combatting the effects of gun violence and voting resources to make their voices heard in upcoming elections.

Summer of Impact: Young People Drive Civic Change Over Summer Break

Future Generations University: Appalachian Program

West Virginia

Young adults across the state will work together on mental healthcare barriers, environmental justice initiatives, and small business development.

Earth Care

Albuquerque, NM

Youth leaders from Indigenous and Latinx immigrant and local Hispano communities will organize a grassroots and media campaign to inspire communities to participate in climate actions, address local environmental justice issues, and advance climate goals in the 2022 elections.

Maryland Students for Educational Equity

Maryland

Public school students across rural, suburban, and urban counties in Maryland will collaborate to ensure that schools are spaces where all students can build critical consciousness about the world around them and reach their full potential.

Youth ARTS Initiative

Oakland, CA

A youth-led organization called Bay Peace will implement efforts to heal trauma, prevent violence, and build community through grassroots organizing, community-based art, and advocacy.