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Spotlight On ICI Alumni:  Muhammad Amjad

11/20/2017

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We are proud to work amongst talented youth and adult researchers. During the summer, the Intergenerational Change Initiative launched our ChangeFocusNYC project and brought together amazing adult and young researchers to conduct and code valuable research. At the end of the summer, some researchers transitions to postsecondary opportunities and took the experience of working at ICI with them to college, professional opportunities, and to other places that life inspired them to pursue. We caught up with Muhammad Amjad, who is currently a first year student at SUNY Alfred State. Muhammad shares with uss some of his thoughts on being part of ICI and some great advice for researchers who recently joined our team. Check it out below!
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Muhammad shares:
I am enrolled in college and don’t really have a specific project I’m working on at the moment but I do look forward to seeing what the campus has to offer in terms of being a researcher and youth activist.
Some of the most important lessons I learned during the summer was teamwork. We were all extremely new to the process of being researchers, facilitators, note takers, and coders but we knew that we had a goal we had to reach so everyone tried their best and did was the in the best interest of our overall goal not personal preferences.

My favorite part was in the morning walking in and seeing everybody energy each and every day to work harder and the willingness to improve it helped everyone get tasks done.
The summer program strengthened me by making me a proper time manager and taught me how to get humongous acts done in short period of times which is extremely helpful in college.
In the future I plan on working with the institute again to help our outreach get to as far as it possibly can and raise awareness everywhere we can.

​The advice I would give new researchers or new members of the team would be to work hard. They can do it or else they wouldn’t have been chosen. Sarah and team are really good at picking people for the job so if they picked you that mean you have what it takes so don’t undercut yourself and let them help you reach your true potential.

And to end, I would just like to say Sarah is the best boss ever and the skills I learned from her, Jen, and Lisa are skills I can use in any aspect of my life at any time that will help me hopefully stand out when working.
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Balancing Work, School, and Research!

11/16/2017

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The beginning of college was the beginning of a new stage in my life. All of a sudden, I didn’t have classes from 8-3 with homework due on a daily basis. College in comparison to high school was freedom. However, that mindset will not successful get you through college. The freedom college gives you is comes with responsibilities. The freedom of having a class one or twice a week requires you to remember assignments and deadlines because your teacher is not obligated to remind you- especially if you’re a working student.
           In order to balance work and school, it is important to take on only as much as you physically and mentally can. College is a journey and work should aide you along that journey. Therefore, look for jobs or internships that relate directly or indirectly to your major and/or intended career path. Maintaining a schedule is also important, schedules allow you to keep track of your assignments, work shifts and social life. A well maintained schedule allows you to know when you are taking on too many responsibilities and keeps you and everything around you organized. As a college freshman, I am still learning how to balance school and my extracurricular, but as long as my goal is to graduate in four years with my bachelors and a high GPA, I believe everything will balance out in the end.
​​- Monica M.

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joining ici: The grind for change doesn't stop!

11/10/2017

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Hi! My name is Heaven Fernandez and I was born & proudly raised in the big apple!

Becoming a part of ICI was completely unexpected. Around the age of 18, when I still attended high school, one of my counselors introduced me to these focus groups based on how we, the people, can make the community a better place. Once I heard that I said "I’m interested!” with no hesitation. Helping our people, the youth , and our community is always something that I’ve been interested in doing.
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During the last focus group I attended, I met a wonderful woman named Jennifer Tang. We had a great conversation. I wrote my name down on a piece of paper hoping to follow up on a job opportunity & Jennifer reached out to me. I was invited to join the Intergenerational Change Initiative. Once I joined ICI, we quickly started to prepare for an important meeting with representatives from ACS & the DOE. We were a bit nervous about it at first but we devised a plan. Our team split into groups & got straight to work! ​
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This meeting meant a lot to us. This was our way of expressing the youth's perspective and how such agencies can improve. We know our research can help address some of the challenges. 

The meeting went swell! The agency’s professionals took everything we spoke about into consideration. But our job doesn't stop now. Were still grinding! We’re still going to help our communities as much as we can! 
- Heaven F

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Research and reflection!

10/23/2017

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The Benefits of Reflection and Feedback in Research
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The Change Focus NYC Project launched this past summer and a group of young and adult researchers joined together to take on the research project and produce results that would aid in positive change across city agencies and various implementation levels. The research process remains intricate. There are many important factors that we must remain cognizant of as we analyze the data collected over the summer, review the codes and findings from our research, and package our findings so that our publications are useful to other change makers in the field. ​
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Through this critical research process we also take time during our weekly sessions to reflect on our progress and provide feedback to support our work and maintain strong communication. There are many benefits to reflecting on our work and we find that reflecting on our work provides an opportunity to highlight the progress we are making, identify points of hope, new ideas, suggestions, and strengths that we are developing through the process. It’s also an opportunity to be honest and transparent. Providing feedback on our presentations and work while discussing it as a group helps us identify ways that we can improve, and ways in which we can ensure that the project remains aligned with our goals and true to the vision of the Intergenerational Change Initiative.


- Rachel J

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Being Part of change

10/21/2017

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Before decisions are made, research must be done to understand how the proposed decisions will affect society. As a result, data collecting methods such as polls and focus groups are conducted. Often, when decisions affecting the youth are proposed, the youth are not always involved in the data collecting process. Instead, the data collected is focused on the parents and officials who will be indirectly affected. Now more than ever, young people of this society have begun to take a stand against such exclusive data methods. On multiple occasions, young people have identified the flaws in systems, agencies such as the Department of Education and American Child Services. Young people have established and advocated for change that benefited the officials, the parents and the youth.
   

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 As a young person and researcher who plays a role in influencing these agencies, it is important to be hopeful. Without hope, it is hard to complete the tasks need to leave an impression on government agencies. When the agencies are not conducting the research, we must conduct it. When it seems like no one will listen, we cannot stop talking. There are days when the work seems to have no end, but there is always the reminder that we are not alone. As advocates for the better, we support each other and we have the support of the youth unable to voice their opinions. However, there are also times when it may seem like none of our methods are working, the support is not there and the hope we feel, at this time, may not be enough. In that moment, advocates especially young advocates must remember why they began this journey, the experiences that encouraged them to advocate for change, and the people that inspired a feeling of hope. The role youth playing in influencing government agencies is a big one, but it is not a burden because the solution will not be the product of one young person, it will be the hope, belief, and research of many.

- Monica Murray

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Finding Liberation in Numbers

7/16/2017

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The Free Minds Free People Conference in Baltimore this summer was an experience I will never forget. Working and learning alongside our collective of young people reminded me of why I love this work and why building coalitions of youth and adult partnerships is vital for social and political change.

I was particularly honored to participate in a rally, which was organized through the conference. One of our young people, Nupol Kiazolu,, who is deeply connected to the Black Lives Matter movement in New York City, provided the opening speech. Her powerful voice cried for unity, and equity. She prompted the crowd to join hands, and to fight for justice. In that moment I felt truly inspired and hopeful that together, we can create a better, more just world.

- Tyler M.
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Research and recreation!

7/10/2017

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On Our Trip to the Free Minds Free People Conference
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Our trip to the Free Minds Free People conference in Baltimore was an opportunity for our team  to get to know each other better and have fun together while learning valuable skills. We started the day learning and practicing using the different types of research in preparation for the focus groups we would conduct later, but instead of going home at the end of the day, we gathered our things and took a nice walk to the  train station.
We boarded the bus to Baltimore. It was a long bus ride to Baltimore and we ate snacks and talked along the way. Once we arrived, we all took cabs to our hotel. It was very beautiful and extravagant! We all went to our respective hotel rooms to drop off our stuff and then explored the hotel in an attempt to find their pool.​
​We boarded the bus to Baltimore. It was a long bus ride to Baltimore and we ate snacks and talked along the way. Once we arrived, we all took cabs to our hotel. It was very beautiful and extravagant! We all went to our respective hotel rooms to drop off our stuff and then explored the hotel in an attempt to find their pool.​​
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We found the pool and spent about an hour hanging out and swimming. Afterwards, we went back to our hotel clean up. Emily, Asha and Raiana fell asleep soon after while the rest of the group hung out in one of their hotel rooms and continued the group bonding!​
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The next morning we all woke up extremely early to catch the bus to New York. We all had to take cabs to the bus station, but we couldn't find enough cabs for everyone! We almost missed the bus, but luckily the people who had gone in the first cab convinced the bus driver to wait another 5 minutes and we made it!

​- Raiana K.

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Welcome to our site!

6/1/2017

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This is the official site for the Intergenerational Change Initiative and our projects.
Feel free to explore our site, comment on our posts, and check back for updates to stay connected to our journey!

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  • Our Work
    • Research Training Institute >
      • Summer Institute Research Team
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      • Amplify App
    • Engagement
  • Youth Opportunities
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  • Our Team
  • Blog
  • Contact Us