Light Up Durham “IT’S COOL TO CARE” Awards

“It’s Cool To Care” Award Presentations by Light Up Durham

Light Up Durham is proud to be handing out its 2nd Annual “It’s Cool To Care” Awards to three people who are giving the youth they work with hope, a sense of belief in themselves, and in some cases second chances at being successful. They are demonstrating that someone really cares about them…and so for their work, we are honor them.

The 2008 “It’s Cool To Care” Award Recipients are:

Frances Alexander, Executive Director of EDGE Training & Placement, Inc.

Ms. Alexander started EDGE in 2007 as a way of giving students who drop out of school at 16 years old an opportunity to continue their education. Since the start of EDGE in early 2007, more than 100 youth have been served, 22 have received their GED and 10 are now attending college.

The EDGE program stands for Education, Development, Growth and Employment and as the name implies, the EDGE program promotes Education, Leadership and Personal Responsibility. Its overall mission is to educate and develop at-risk Durham youth in a results-oriented, disciplined environment and initiate a personal growth process to secure employment as an initial step in a career plan.

The EDGE program, while academic in nature, also teaches character education and offers life skills training to the participants.

Nadeen Bir, Youth Program Director with El Centro Hispano of Durham

Nadeen Bir has been involved with the Young Leaders In Action program at El Centro for several years and has quickly gone from a youth coordinator to program director.

More than 400 Latino youth have participated in Ms. Bir’s program and there is certainly indication that the program is going to continue to serve more and more youth in the future.

The Young Leaders In Action Program was formed to get youth working together in the areas of race relations, cultural preservation, crime prevention and many other important social issues. The youth involved in Young Leaders In Action build strong relationships with each other, learn about the world that surrounds them, and in the end, are better equipped to make better decisions in their individual lives and create change in their communities. This group works to increase their network of social support, and become educated about important issues such as gang prevention, the importance of staying in school, and access to higher education.

G. Terry Huff, Jr. Program Coordinator of The Aspiring Eagles Program and Coordinator of Dimensions of Learning with North Carolina Central University

The Aspiring Eagles program is in its third year and has touched the lives of 250 youth in the summer bridge program and another 470 students in the Aspiring Eagles Learning Community.  These youth are able to pursue a college education and be successful in a college environment because of Mr. Huff’s work with them in the program.

The Aspiring Eagles Program was designed to provide students with a second chance to attend North Carolina Central University. Although initially denied entry into the University, the Aspiring Eagles Program reaches out to youth through an intense summer program that requires the participants to work hard, find their inner strength, and tap into their drive to succeed. When students are successful in this summer program, they are offered the opportunity of becoming a student at NC Central and will be tracked and supported by the Aspiring Eagles Scholars Learning Community.