The countdown is on and FYSOP is right around the corner! That’s right, only 7 days till you’ll all be here moving in. We hope you’re all as excited as we are.

As you all pack and prepare to leave for college, please keep in mind that we are collecting clothing donations for one of our sites – Kim’s Project. Kim’s project works with young women who have been victims of the sex trade, and often have no belongings of their own. Kim’s project relies heavily on donations to be able to provide these young women with some much needed necessities. As well as volunteering with Kim’s Project during FYSOP, Cherie Jermenez who runs the organization, has also kindly agreed to speak to us during education day. We know that she, and all the women she works with, would really appreciate your generosity.

So as you’re cleaning out your closets and packing for BU, please keep Kim’s Project in mind. If you have one (or more) items you can spare (and bring with you to FYSOP) we’ll be collecting donations during registration and ed day (or you can give them to your staff). All your donations will be going to great new homes.

Thanks and happy packing!

Emma and Bree

But, in all seriousness, some of these emotions – if not all of them – will be experienced before, during and after FYSOP. Don’t worry, it’s totally normal. When you leave for BU you may feel nervous, timid, angry, or sad but by the middle of FYSOP those emotions will flip. You’ll be excited for new experiences, inspired by Ed Day and ready to continue helping your community. After FYSOP has ended you will (hopefully) have created new passions, reinvigorated old passions and will be empowered to change the world. FYSOP was a life changing experience for me and opened the doors to my life here at BU. Get ready for FYSOP and don’t hold back!

Peace and love,

Emma

So as you know, if you’re 18 or older at the time of FYSOP, you’ll be visiting a prison site during the week of FYSOP. One of the prison sites has asked as for a list of topic you would like to discuss with the inmates. So we’re handing this one over to YOU! Leave us a comment letting us know of any questions you would like to ask, or topics you would like to discuss during the prison visit.

However please keep the following rules in mind. These regulations have been set by the prison facilities, and as they are hosting us for the day, it is important to adhere to their rules.

Not to be discussed with inmates:

1) Your social life

2) The inmates past, crime or the criminal justice system

3) Politics or political activities

4) Religion

5) Hone and Family

6)Work, School, Neighbourhood

7) Business transactions with any offender

Your outside identity.

Bearing these in mind, please leave us a comment with anything you’d like to talk about! We look forward to hearing from you!

Emma and Bree

Want to learn more about Human Rights worldwide and within MA before you get to FYSOP? Check out our new page full of issue are information – just click the “Issue Area Information” tab at the top of the page. Happy Reading!

Emma and Bree

1) Kim’s Project 

Kim’s project is located at 989 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, just a few minutes walk from BU’s West Campus. Kim’s Project is a program for women affected by the street economy and sex trade. The program offer’s positive alternatives, ensures their safety and raises awareness. Cherie, the director of Kim’s project, was involved in the sex industry for 20 years, before attending UMass Boston later in life. She described to us how many of the young women they deal with are referred to them by the Boston Police Human Trafficking Unit which is located in the same building. Many of these young women have “aged out” of state and federal support systems, and lack the resources and education to help themselves. Kim’s project rely heavily on donations to provide these women with clothing and toiletries etc. In order to help out this organization, we would love it if when you attend FYSOP, you could bring one item of clothing you no longer wear. We know that Kim’s Project, and the women they work with would really appreciate this support.

2) Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services

Located in Worcester MA, about 45 minutes drive from Boston,  LIRS’s works to provide assistants to refugees and immigrants. Their director explained to us that they are alerted up to a week in advance when a new refugee family arrives in the country, and in this time have to find them a suitable home, furniture, stock their kitchen with food and prepare a culturally appropriate meal for when the family arrives. We also met the LIRS lawyers, who help the immigrants and refugees with the legal battles that can be involved with becoming a new American. These lawyers were happy to prepare a presentation for us to share some of this information with you all when you go on site. We also got to see the ESL classrooms, where the volunteers will assist in tutoring an ESL class. LIRS also runs a sustainable farm, 15 minutes drive from their Worcester site. This farm teaches the immigrant methods of sustainable farming in the USA, and the small business skills that will allow them to market their produce. They were eager for the volunteers to help out on  the farm during one of the days of service. This organization does some amazing work to help people adjust to and become productive in American society, and they were very excited to work with us.

3) World PEAS/New Entry Farms

Located in Dracut MA, New Entry has three farming sites about 40 mins drive from BU campus. We met the farm director, who showed us around all three farms which are located only a few minutes drive from each other, in a beautiful area of Massachusetts. She described the work that the volunteers will perform, suck as clearing brush and weeds, helping rebuild a rock wall and clearing our sheds. She said in the past the volunteers have really enjoyed being able to see the obvious visual improvements they’ve been able to make on these sites. She also described to us some of the difficulties involved with trying to maintain these farm sites, in an area that is growing in terms of residential residents and being continually developed. New Entry has traditionally worked with immigrants, to help them develop them farming and small business skills, and help them learn to farm sustainably. New Entry is increasingly extending their services to American citizens, as they too wish to learn to farm sustainably. New Entry does a great job to positively impact the lives of the farmers there, working to both maintain sustainable farming techniques and providing the farmland in which they are able to develop these skills.

For more information on these sites, and the other prison facilities we will be visiting, check out the “sites” tab at the top of this page. See you all soon!

Emma and Bree

So as you were probably told over the phone, if you’re 18 or over at the time of FYSOP, there’s a good chance you will be visiting a prison during one of the three days of service during FYSOP. During these visits, you’ll tour the prison facilities and have a roundtable discussion with the prison inmates. But as we mentioned, the prisons have some pretty strict dress codes for visitors.

For girls: Skirts knee length or longer or loose fitting slacks and a reasonably formal top. NO: Jeans of any color, tight fitting pants (leggings or jeggings), short skirts, sweatpants, shorts, flip flops, trainers, tank tops, revealing tops, t-shirts or exposed tattoos.

For guys: Khakis and a collared shirt or something similar. NO: Jeans, sweatpants, singlets, t-shirts, trainers, flip flops or exposed tattoos.

If you have piercing you can remove, please take them out for the day. If you have piercings that can’t be removed, don’t worry, as long as you let us know over the phone that’s fine (some of the prisons have metal detectors which obviously we don’t want you setting off – so if you have a piercing you can’t take out, we make sure you visit a prison that doesn’t require you to pass through a metal detector to enter).

We’ll let you know in advance which day you’ll be visiting prison, so you’ll know when to dress appropriately. The full list of clothing guidelines is available here.

If you have any questions, email us at fysophurights22@gmail.com, or give us a call.

See you all in August!

Bree and Emma

We’ve been doing a lot of research in preparation of FYSOP and stumbled across some really interesting articles and facts. Take a look and let us know what was most shocking to you.

1) In 2002 Abercrombie & Fitch began selling child sized thongs that read “wink wink” and “eye candy”

In 2005 they released women’s T-shirts that read, across the chest, “Who needs brains when you have these”, “Available for parties”, and “I had a nightmare I was a brunette”.

This past winter they introduced a “push-up triangle” bikini, marketing it towards girls as young as 7 or 8.

2) Human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world, with the total annual revenue for trafficking in person estimated to be over $32 billion. ( Public Radio, January 11, 2008) In fact, there are more slaves today than any other time in human history, this includes the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

3) Even with the UN’s recognition of the famine in Eastern Africa (which is affecting 11 million people) the US is still proposing budget cuts to our foreign aid. Here’s a petition to sign and more information.

ONE Petition
View This Poll

Here’s the link to the petition:
http://act.one.org/sign/protect_fy2012/

Now to the second part of the blog: an early screening of FYSOP (hu rights style!). In preparation for FYSOP we’ve been calling and visiting organizations in the greater Boston area to set up volunteer sites. One of the sites we’ve visited so far is the JFK Elementary School in Jamaica Plains. We saw the school, talked to the teachers and learned a little about the school’s profile. Volunteers will be helping the teachers set up classrooms (school starts after labor day) and, at some point, there will be a discussion about education within inner cities!

To get prepared for FYSOP here are some statistics on the education system in Boston:

Of those who entered high school in 2006/2007, 63.2% graduated within 4 years. Statewide graduation rate is around 80%.

In the 2009-2010 school year 5.7% of the student population dropped out of school.

According to research conducted several years ago by Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies, each dropout (over his or her lifetime) costs more than $118,000 in government expenditures and other benefits.

About 18% of Boston Public School (BPS) students are English Language Learners.

The 5 most common languages spoken (other than English) by BPS Students include Spanish, Haitian Creole, Chinese, Cape Verdean Creole, and Vietnamese.

71% of BPS students are eligible for free or reduced price meals at school.

Around 20% of BPS students are enrolled in some type of special education program.

Although Boston seems to be lagging behind the state average in many different spectrums, there are many strides being made to better it’s educational system. Greater collaboration is happening between BPS and universities, foundations, businesses, and organizations. The dropout rate has dipped below 3% for the first time in the past decade and the graduation rate continues to rise. Achievements and developments are continuing to happen in Boston’s education sector!

We hope you’re getting excited for FYSOP and remember… it’s cool to stay in school!

Over and out,

Emma and Bree