Community Leadership Award - Third cohort of community leaders awarded

CSEwL announces the third group of recipients for its Community Leadership Award – Alex Colon, Mukaram Syed, and Nolan Deck.

Alex Colon – The Ripple Effect

The goal of this project is to amplify the voices of our youth. We sit and wonder why education is no longer being received the way it was 10-15 years ago, but never ask the actual students. The Ripple Creators Program teamed up with The Mix and Music For Everyone to create the next volume of Songs for Justice, but this time from the kid’s perspective.

At the end of our project, which will continue being worked on for the next year, will consist of a series of 45″ vinyl’s that will be pressed and distributed to The Mix, our chosen non-profit. SIDE A will consist of a song that our students fully produced, recorded, and wrote while SIDE B will consist of a poem orhistorical speech. Included inside of the vinyl cover will be artwork done by our youth relating to the subject matter spoken about.

Our youth has immersed themselves in the creative writing process, given prompts and working through personal experiences to help the listener relate. The students have successfully produced, recorded, and wrote 1 (3:00) song.

As a collective, mentors and students, we worked together to curate an experience for the community where every student was able to showcase their art and hard work.

Mukaram Syed

“The project I propose will enable Islamic Community Center of Lancaster to develop a more robust immigrant/asylee assistance program and a civic onboarding project.”

Nolan Deck – Neighbors Cafe

By reducing reducing barriers for immigrant entrepreneurs, we were able to work with Community Partners and provide training & funding.