What teens deserve: A creative out-of-school program

Jon speaks with Dr. David Penberg, who ran the Liberty  Partnership Program at Bank Street College in the 1990s, and two of the participants, Madelyn Baez, and Tara Crichlow. Three decades later, Madelyn, Tara, and David explain how the program changed the trajectory of their lives. The Liberty Partnership was created as a college prep intervention for underserved and marginalized middle school students.   For the participants, it was a safe place of "uncomfortable empowerment" where their opinions were taken seriously in a simultaneously supportive and challenging environment.

Overview

00:00-00:45 Intro

00:45-01:56 Liberty Partnership Program (LPP) origin and description

01:56-03:36 What LPP felt like to Madelyn and Tara

03:36-07:03 LPP structure and goals

07:03-09:40 How Madelyn and Tara joined

09:40-14:42 How experiences in the program were different from school

14:42-19:10 Environmental conversations

19:10-19:24 Trip to China

19:24-20:49 Asset-based program; not about “fixing” the young people

20:49-23:03 Opportunities and relationships

23:03-26:04 “Uncomfortable empowerment”

26:04-26:50 Options, opportunities, exposure, experience

26:50-30:37 Bank Street as a place of safety and empowerment during time of demonization 

of young people of color after Central Park jogger case

30:37-35:03 Impact on students’ relationships with families and friends

35:03-37:02 Impact on David’s life

37:02-37:52 Remembering youths who died

37:52-40:51 The larger Bank Street environment

40:51-42:15 The “pure love” of the LPP community

42:15- Outro

Transcript

Click here to see the full transcription of this episode. 

Soundtrack by Poddington Bear