Anytown Honored By FOCUS-St. Louis

Gary Hirshberg (left) and Joel Jackson (right) receive awards for Anytown and Iris Jacob in FOCUS-St. Louis ceremony

Anytown received the 2003 What's Right With the Region Award from FOCUS St. Louis in the category of Racial Equality and Social Justice.  Here's what FOCUS had to say about the Anytown program:

The Anytown Youth Leadership Institute, sponsored by the National Conference for Community and Justice-St. Louis (NCCJ), is the region’s premier leadership training process for high school youth. Anytown prepares high school youth to enter diverse educational, occupational and living environments and not only succeed, but to assume leadership roles and excel. Each year, between 80 and 100 high school youth have the opportunity to participate in an eight-day residential experience that empowers their leadership, promotes change-agent activity in their schools and neighborhoods, and teaches cultural competence at a deeper level. This conference convenes youth to discuss racism, classism, sexism, and bias and equips them with tools that empower them to be leaders in their schools, their communities and their futures. In addition, the annual staff training process prepares 40 St. Louis volunteer leaders of all ages to become experienced facilitators of processes that promote change-agent development on issues of race and difference.

The impact of this leadership in area high schools is far-reaching and well-documented. It is truly one of the most remarkable training processes in the nation today, in existence since 1950. As the St. Louis region continues to battle negative press related to the issue of segregation, the Anytown program is a shining light that shows how we can stop the social conditioning that leads to oppression and promote leadership to build a community based on equality, inclusiveness and the fundamental principles of social justice.