Since 2003, ASTEP has collaborated with enFamilia - a community-based organization dedicated to using the arts to build healthy family relationships, preserve cultural values, and enrich the quality of life - to implement the Art-in-Action Experience for children from the Homestead, Florida area. ASTEP and enFamilia have worked together to develop a curriculum model that positively impacts the lives of the young participants beyond their time in the program. The common goal is to empower the youth of Homestead with communication and leadership skills to help them transcend the barriers they face and provide invaluable support that focuses on drug abuse prevention, ending gang violence and gender equality education.
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 them to develop critical life skills, including communication and teamwork. Workshops are conducted by ASTEP's professionally trained volunteer artist educators and take place at the Everglades Community Association, a housing and community development corporation serving rural poor, migrant, and seasonal farm workers. For many of the participating children, the Art-in-Action Experience is their first exposure to the arts and a rare opportunity for them to develop their own creativity. In order to eliminate economic barriers to participation, the experience is offered free of charge to all of the students.
While in Homestead ASTEP volunteer educators lead two month-long, age-specific sessions; one in June, which caters to middle-school children ages 10-13, and the second in July, which targets high-school students ages 14-18. Each day begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. During this time there are numerous opportunities for creating, sharing, and appreciating each other's work.
Since the inception of the Art-in-Action Experience in 2003, ASTEP, together with enFamilia, have partnered with 8 local nonprofit organizations and contributed over 50,000 hours to improving the community of Homestead. Students have presented 7 performances serving an average audience of 250 parents and community members. Students have also created six murals, 13 dances, 14 theatrical sketches, 7 camp anthems, and 9 films.
The Art-in-Action Experience 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 program has affected the lives of over 400 students and 60 professional artists.
In order to help Experience participants sustain their development beyond the summer, ASTEP and enFamila also engage select students in a year-round Group Leadership Program. ASTEP and enFamilia facilitators meet with these students three times per month and guide them as they take a more active leadership role in heightening dialogue within their community, creating and developing their own artistic projects, conceiving and executing events for the community. To date, the Group Leadership Program has mentored over 20 students, most of whom 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 the one which many of us encounter. 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.
Additionally, 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. The Miami-Dade school system is plagued by 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 and separation rates have risen. Domestic and sexual abuse and violence exists in overwhelming rates. Miami-Dade County reports over 15,000 cases of domestic violence per year, with the reported cases representing just a fraction of the total number of cases seen.
Though these statistics may suggest the residents, particularly the children, of Homestead are trapped by their circumstances, the arts have always seemed to provide these children with a glimmer of hope that, perhaps, there is an alternative to the world they find themselves stuck in. 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.
