Youth - Meeting 2

I met with the youth again last night and distributed the surveys. I received a total of 22 surveys and will possibly be receiving more in the near future. The group surveyed was a combination of male and females from different ethnic backgrounds and ranged in age from 14-17. I will begin analyzing the results and will have that completed this weekend. Below is a copy of the survey which was distributed. This same survey will be distributed to the Elderly as well.

Elderly Meeting

I met with a group from a senior center on Thursday October 30. They were very informative on how they felt about the youth. They feel that the youth aer not provided with leadership and support and are very willing to step up to fill in that gap for the youth. They felt that they had a lot to offer the youth, but were a little skeptical on what the youth could provide for them. After much discussion some of the seniors believed that there were some things they could learn from the youth such as technology aspects. The main thing they focused on was having a view of the youth and making sure that the seniors had their own area they could socialize in. They enjoy being with the youth but also need their own space.

Youth Fears regarding the interaction

Please post here any fears or concerns you have regarding the interaction in the community center.

School Aged Youth Activities

Please post here any activities you would like to see included in the community center. Please also mention if you would participate in these activities with the elderly or preschool children. For example a wii tournament against the elderly.

Group Spaces Vs. Community Spaces

Please post your views on creating spaces for the three different groups (preschool children, school age youth, and the elderly) vs. community spaces. For example should there be spaces for each group to go to on their own or should it be one big open community space? How should the spaces be regulated time wise? Please post any information you would like to share and feel free to comment on each other's comments.

My Thesis Proposal

My overall thesis idea is to develop a community center which will encourage interaction between preschool children, school age youth and the elderly. I will be meeting with the preschool children for one session and the other two groups for three sessions. The first session will include gathering general information and the second session will include distributing surveys based on the information obtained from the two groups in the first session. In the last session I will distribute blocks of different sizes and activity labels to the individual groups and allow them to layout the community center.

I have set up this blog to allow for feedback regarding this project. Please come back and visit the blog as often as you wish as I will be creating new posts daily based on the information I have gathered.

School Aged Youth Meeting - First Session

I am working with the White Plains Youth Bureau for my group of youth to interview for my thesis. I had my first meeting with the School Age Youth tonight and it was successful. As a whole they were very open to the idea and gave me some good feedback. I am providing a list of the general comments/suggestions from tonight and will then start some other posts for more specific comments.

Comments/Suggestions from the School Aged Youth

Dance: teens offering dance classes to the elderly and preschool children to get them moving.

Mentor program: develop a program where the elderly mentor the school age youth and the school age youth mentor the preschool children.

Provide opportunities to bond

Segregated Areas - NO!! All areas should be open to all groups.

Technology: bring someone in to teach classes, classes should include the elderly and the preschool children at the same time.

Music: utilize music to bring the groups together. Everyone likes music, use it to bridge the gap.


Tonight there was also a librarian from the public library speaking with the group about a teen center they are looking to create in the library. She discussed some of the information they had obtained from the locals they had interviewed regarding their project research.