Rochester, NY – A group of teenagers in Rochester is participating in a city-funded initiative known as ‘Ubuntu,’ spending three evenings a week at the Edgerton R-Center. ‘Ubuntu,’ derived from the Swahili term meaning ‘I am because we are,’ embodies a project aimed at nurturing discussions about life and giving back, as shared by program director Kareem McCullough.
This innovative program is made possible through funding from the Rochester Peace Collective, which has allocated $5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to support programs aimed at violence prevention. ‘Ubuntu’ aligns perfectly with this objective by empowering teenagers and guiding them toward the right path.
Weekly sessions include group therapy led by qualified social workers, with participants ranging from 14 to 18 years old. The emphasis on mental health resonates profoundly with the teens. Zyair Kent, a 15-year-old sophomore at Rochester Academy Charter High School, expressed the significance of these lessons during a pivotal growth period: “The mental health part is really important to me. If I learn these things as a teenager when you are in your biggest growth period, who knows how good I will be when I am an adult?”
McCullough further highlighted the shared experiences among many of the youths in the community: “A lot of kids in our community have faced a lot of adversities and what they don’t realize is a lot of them share the same stories. So, in this setting, they are able to share that and help each other grow.”
The remaining two nights of the program are dedicated to engaging activities, including art projects and cooking classes. Kent articulated the broader significance of these pursuits: “The days I am cooking I might learn something about being a person, about being a man, a person in general. You learn something every day you are here.”
In a particularly memorable outing, the group recently embarked on a camping trip, an experience many had never encountered before. McCullough recounted the transformative impact of this journey: “These kids have never been on a camping trip before. They slept in the woods in the tents, in sleeping bags. They pitched their own tents, slept outside, and after I asked, they all said ‘we learned something. We learned something new that we didn’t know before we started.'”
The program is presently in its sixth week of the planned 30-week duration, and McCullough, a Rochester native, recognizes the critical importance of providing a safe and open space for youths to discuss mental health. He emphasized the significance of amplifying their voices: “We all have a voice that needs to be heard. Unfortunately, for kids who come from the community I come from, that voice has not been heard for way too long. This is giving them an opportunity to be heard and be attached to something and someone who cares.”
