For the past seven years ASTEP and enFamilia, a community based organization dedicated to building healthy family relationships, preserving cultural values and enriching the quality of life through education and the arts, have implemented the Art-in-Action Experience for children from the Homestead, Florida area. Since 2003 ASTEP and enFamilia have collaborated, developed and refined a curriculum model that positively impacts the lives of the young participants beyond their time in the program. Our common goal is to empower the youth of Homestead with communication and leadership skills to help transcend the barriers that they face and provide invaluable support that focuses on drug abuse prevention, ending gang violence and gender equality education.
Homestead has an extraordinarily high percentage of families that live well below the poverty line, leaving the children in this area particularly vulnerable. The Art-in-Action Experience provides dance, drama, music, poetry, playwriting, literature and visual art workshops that not only engage these young people in the joy of creating art, but also enable the children to develop critical life skills, including self-esteem, communication and teamwork. The intensive sessions are conducted by ASTEP's professionally trained volunteer educators and take place at the Everglades Community Association, a housing and community development corporation serving rural poor, migrant, and seasonal farm workers.
ASTEP volunteer educators lead two month-long, age-specific sessions; workshops in June are for middle-school children ages 10-13 and July caters to high-school students ages 14-18. Throughout the 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. day, there are also numerous opportunities for the creating, sharing, and appreciation of the participants' work. For many of the young people, the Art-in-Action Experience is their first exposure to the arts and a rare opportunity for these underprivileged kids to develop their own creativity. In order to eliminate economic barriers to participation, the experience is offered free of charge for all children involved.
Since 2003, ASTEP, together with enFamilia, have partnered with 8 local nonprofit organizations and contributed over 50,000 hours to improving the community of Homestead. ASTEP volunteer educators have introduced students to the worlds of Shakespeare and Martha Graham, The Beatles and Chopin, improvisation and mural-making, film-making and photography, Augusto Boal and Martin Luther King, and many more. In that time, students have presented 7 performances serving an average audience of 250 parents and community members. Participants have created six murals, 13 dances, 14 theatrical sketches, 7 camp anthems, and 9 films. The program has received accolades from the cities of Homestead and Florida City, and has received special coverage by the Miami Herald and by local NBC affiliates. Over 50% of our students and volunteers return to participate/volunteer every year. To date, the Art-In-Action Experience has affected the lives of over 400 students and 60 professional artists.
ASTEP and enFamila's year-round Group Leadership Program has mentored over 20 students, and many of our graduating seniors have moved into higher education and are pursuing the arts on a meaningful level (a requirement for applying to be an ASTEP Volunteer). Over 80% of the Group Leaders have been involved with ASTEP since middle-school and are committed to returning as ASTEP Volunteers in hopes to give back and inspire the next generation of children from their community.
Youth who grow up in Homestead, Florida are subject to an America that is profoundly different than what many of us encounter or even see. The demographic of children served in this community consists mostly of first generation Haitians and Hispanics (including Mexicans, Colombians, and Cubans). In areas around Homestead, poverty rates are a staggering 44%, well above the county's already high 14% average. Nearly 420,000 residents throughout the county live below the poverty line. Tremendous tensions exist between many of these groups. Ethnic, racial, and class-based divisions often manifest themselves in gangs, and gang-related violence: including murder, armed robbery, drug use, drug-dealing, and rape. Youth in Homestead who hope to escape these circumstances find little support in their efforts to do so. The Miami-Dade school system is plagued by ethnic and racial divides, and de facto segregation, preventing students from working together. With a ratio of one college counselor to 3,500 students, students tend to remain oblivious to opportunities to further their education. The high school drop-out rate in the area is an astounding 50% and only 9% of graduating high school students go on to receive Bachelor's Degrees.
Homestead's poverty has had a devastating impact on family and social structures. One out of every eight children is born to a teenage mother. Marriage rates have declined while divorce rand separation rates have risen. One horrific byproduct of this decline is high rates of domestic and sexual abuse and violence. Miami-Dade County reports over 15,000 cases of domestic violence per year, the reported cases representing just a fraction of the total number of cases seen.
In general, this community is culturally under-represented and under-served. However, studies done by local community assistance programs and our own experiences have shown that whatever exposure these children have had to the arts, they connect with it quickly. Popular and cultural music, dance and movies have become a primary means of escape, even if it is only temporary.
