Youth in the US
Otherwise, we want to go much bigger: more exchange projects, in several cities, with several groups of young people.
What are you planning in the next few years in terms of US exchanges? What would you like to experience or achieve? Depending on how the pandemic develops, we plan to host a group from New York here in Ber- lin in 2022. We’re also planning to fly to New York with another group. For almost five months now, we’ve also been working with two youth groups from Berlin and Detroit ( #YAEDetroitBerlin [Young Artist Exchange]). This has led to 12 musical col- laborations. Next April, the group from Detroit will come to Berlin and in May, the group from Berlin will fly to De - troit for a return meeting. We’re hoping to do a record release tour through both cities. Otherwise, we want to go much bigger: more exchange projects, in several cities, with several groups of young people. Because this work is important. It sends out im- portant signals to young people in the places where the- se projects are taking place.
for themselves. In the US, the concept of rehabilitation seems to be missing completely in work with youth who have gone off the rails, such as young people in the ju - venile system, whereas we attach great importance to this in Germany. Another significant difference between the two cities is the level of violence resulting from dif- ferent gun laws. In the US, disputes can quickly escalate into dangerous situations, so streetworkers there often have to intervene more swiftly. It would be unthinkable in Berlin and for Gangway colleagues to work in any way with the police, but colleagues in the US often must re- act differently. Because of the system, colleagues in New York and other US cities have to keep developing new, sometimes creative strategies to be able to work with young people long-term. We’ve been learning with and from each other for many years now.
Olad Aden is a street worker with Gangway, and a photo grapher and videographer in Berlin. In this capacity, he has organized many youth exchanges. He has organized and supported the German-US-American BronxBerlinConnection youth exchange since 2008.
Web: gangway.de/projekt/projekt-berlinbronxconnection
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