Keys to Upgrading our Detroit Education System (by Elonte Davis)

Education starts with the child, put is made important by parents and peers. Then the schools and how teacher approach is.

First if—somehow—we can make education fun and cool to the children, it would be easy to develop these children. In my estimation, that would put pressure on both parent and teach to feed the child with education.

Also, if the parent feels education is important, they will seek good schools or put pressure on the teacher and school system. When the school feels the pressure from the community to educate the youth better, the school (hopefully) will hire more inspiring teachers.

The school should put pressure on the faculty to compete with suburban schools as well as Cass & Renaissance.

Last but not least, in my eyes—and this is a personal opinion—is that, it's all about politics. When we get on the people who is running our school systems, then we don't worry about changes that get made oe people’s jobs being at risk. When your threaten to take away someone money, you will get reaction.

I believe it will  be a trickle down effect, starting the school boards. They will then get on the people running the school…and so on and so on.

I'm not just talking about a little uproar; I'm talking about a strong movement.

Then we will see a change in Detroit education systems, from the textbooks all the way to the attitude of students wanting to attend school.

I mean…who is really scared of a dog who barks but don't bite?

I think we should be in full dog fight mode, then we will see change.

If we the people not in it for the long run, then what's the use?  We will just be wasting time and energy if we're not ready to take on issues facing the Board of Education.

How to Build Self-Discipline (by Peter Clemens)

(by Peter Clemens)

Discipline is freedom. You may disagree with this statement, and if you do you are certainly not alone. For many people discipline is a dirty word that is equated with the absence of freedom. In fact the opposite is true.

As Stephen R. Covey once wrote, “The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions”. And in the longer term, the undisciplined lack the freedom that comes with possessing particular skills and abilities – e.g. To play a musical instrument or speak a foreign language.

Self-discipline involves acting according to what you think instead of how you feel in the moment. Often it involves sacrificing the pleasure and thrill of the moment for what matters most in life. Therefore it is self-discipline that drives you to

7 Things I Wish I Knew When I Was a Kid

No matter how old we get, most of us lament that, "if I knew THEN what I know NOW, I would have done (fill in the blank)."

Well, here are a few of those things I wish I knew when I was a kid.

1. School Grades are important, but life skills are what really matter.

Yes, the better your grades, the more options you have once you graduate high school.  Education does not guarantee that you will make more money, but educated people have more options and ways to make money than people with less education.

However, I realize that I needed to spend less time studying and more time learning how to live life.  Looking back, I spent so much time trying to keep up my grades that I probably neglected developing other areas of my life: learning how to cook, do laundry, make and keep friends, organize events, follow others, etc.

How to show appreciation for those who deserve it

Do you really appreciate someone's help?  How do they know?  (How can you let them know?)

Actually, many of us are not very good at this.

The Wrong Way to Show Appreciation

Recently, I experienced a situation where someone asked me for help, and I provided that person help--a lot of help, but this person sort of missed the boat.

Are you relying on natural talent, or are you building skills?

It's really cool to have awesome talent.  Most of us wish that we were good at everything.

Many of us gravitate toward doing things that come most easily for us, and we tend to avoid things that are most difficult.

Key Point: If you want to be more than average, you have to do things average people are not willing to do.

Have you ever noticed that player who seemed to be great when he (or she) was young but later in life (or even just a little later during childhood) didn't seem to have that edge of his or her opponents like once was?

Video: 2013 BDYM Detroit Scholarship Fair Overview

(Video by Sampson Cunningham)

Sampson Cunningham of the Better Detroit Youth Movement (BDYM) recorded a video of the highlights of the Detroit Scholarship and Resource Fair this past Tuesday.

Several colleges came to give scholarships--on the spot--to several Detroit soon-to-be college students.

Amongst those colleges were...

An Opportunity to Paint Detroit in Good Colors via Video

We have an awesome opportunity in front of us...something to help make the Better Detroit Youth Movement (BDYM) more than just another non-profit group in the city...and YOU can help make that BIG difference!

One of our BDYM members, Sampson Cunningham, made a pitch at the last BDYM group meeting for people to help him create a video about Detroit.

See Post: Volunteer Opportunity: Need Volunteers to Help Create a “Positive Detroit” Video

He wants to capture some of Detroit's history, but he also wants to capture perspective of how Detroit is today...good and bad.  He especially wants to gather feedback from Detroit's youth.  (Remember, we ARE the Better Detroit YOUTH Movement.)

This can be a great learning opportunity, but it represents something even more important than that.

Volunteering: A Wish or an Action?

The road to bad places is paved with good intentions.

The source of this paraphrased statement is somewhat widely debated, but the value within the statement is unquestioned.

I notice some major problems in the City of Detroit.  Okay!  Maybe I am not the first one to make this "observation."

However, there is one problem I notice that is not unique to Detroit, but the City seems to suffer badly from it.

What problem is that?

Want to see Detroit get better? Visit other cities to get ideas

Often I hear a saying, "You can't be what you can't see."

Sometimes, these words are not taken very seriously, because they are not meaningfully spoken.  However, this statement holds a LOT of truth.

I meet a lot of people that say that they want to help Detroit become better, but I keep hearing the same ideas.  For instance, I hear a lot about street cleanups, which are good, but they mostly wipe away the visual clues of blight...today.  They do not really remove the things that are causing that blight in the first place.

Video: Local Detroit Youth Star - Imani Jackson

(Video by Sampson Cunningham)

Don't Like Detroit? You can make it better...in just one day.

As a suburbanite living in the Metro Detroit Area, it is easy for me to cast stones on our troubled city in Detroit, but I'm confident that most people living within the city will not try to convince you there are not any problems.

In fact, many of these problems are really complicated and involved.  The solution is not within a year, much less a day.

However, even if you're broke and do not have a lot of money, there is something you can do to help make the city better in as little as one (1) day...

Reports and Community Resources via Find Youth Info

This is an email that came from the Find Youth Info group, but there are a lot of great resources and ideas within it that was too good not to share....

How a Haircut Could Help Save Detroit’s Future

This is an awesome article write-up of this week's meeting done by Jerome Espy of Nfit Communications.  Not only does it summarize many activities and announcements, it also does a great job of highlighting several of our organization's initiatives.

How a Haircut Could Help Save Detroit’s Future

By Jerome Espy of Nfinit Communications

A Plea for Help from a Young Detroit Lady by Alyssia Akers

Here is an interesting letter an 18-year-old Detroit young lady wrote. 

A CHANCE FOR A NEW BEGINNING -- FOR A COURAGEOUS DETROIT STUDENT

(via Mobilize.org)

Detroit Millennials: Making Moves with the Better Detroit Youth Movement

Posted by Cedric Brown July 30, 2013 Featured, Featured Bloggers, The Millennial Report

Hey Millennials, remember the good ol’ days?   You know, before the “Great Recession” made our lives difficult and uncertain?   Before we had to worry about chasing “The American Dream,” even if it meant drowning ourselves in history-making student loan debt?