Sincere thanks to everyone involved for contributing the success of the Safe and Healthy Futures Youth Festival on Saturday. We had a beautiful day, a great turnout, good food, and inspiring performances by Raise It Up Youth Awareness, Gary Jones and Boys and Girls Club Youth and Kudos. A special thank you to the members of the MI-YVPC Outreach Committee for their incredibly hard work in organizing and staffing the festival – those great folks are: Allison Krusky, Gary Jones, Natasha Warren, Kenyetta Dodson, Cassandra Brooks, Pete Hutchison, Harry Taylor, and Hadiyah Muhammad. Volunteers from Church Without Walls provided food, and the Boys and Girls Club Youth assisted in set up and other tasks. Durant Tuuri Mott School provided use of their facilities.
Thanks to James Anthony Jones of Ankh Media Group for videotaping, Bang Town Productions for their Mobile Sound Booth, and our MC Sam Berry. We also had donations from several area businesses: Jimmy Johns, Cracker Barrel, Applebees, and Meijers. The Land Bank, Connexion, YWCA, and Community Policing Officer Tawnya Meeks were on hand with information tables, as were YES and Fathers and Sons.
All in all, it was an excellent day and a true community collaboration for and by Flint youth.
We will post pictures from the festival soon.