Teens 'limit ignorance and spread knowledge'

Somerville teens tell their stories on Pearl Street. The crowd listens closely. By Camille Pandian Pearl Street is buzzing with excitement. At Teen Empowerment's community center on the street, kids mill around outside talking excitedly. When the lights dim and everyone sits down inside and the performance does start, however, it quickly becomes apparent this is not your average teen performance event. The subject matter covers social issues from parental abandonment to gangs, violence, crime, racism and drugs. The performances are poems and rap songs, and they are all written by the teen performers themselves from personal experience. This is Teen Empowerment: a non-profit organization run by and for youths aged 14-21. Its aim is to empower and inspire young people to be leaders in positive social change. "It's all about peer leadership," Assistant Director Amanda Holm says. Teen Empowerment hires city youths from a wide variety of different social backgrounds. They meet daily to discuss issues and then hold events such as this one, where they recruit other teens to come witness and be a part of the discussions in social awareness. The organization has been around for 17 years and also has centers in Boston, Egleston Square, Dorchester and Rochester, New York. "Their biggest thing is every piece is something personal,' Holm says. "We don't ever want to be preaching to other kids about 'don't do this, don't do that.' It's more like, 'this is where I'm coming from, this is what I've gone through, here's why it'll help you to learn about my experience.' It's always a 'we' thing, instead of an 'us versus them' thing." For many of the performers Thursday, it was their first time in front of an audience. John Norena, 14, read a poem about how it felt to grow up having had his father abandon him. "I was sweating a little bit," he says. "But I need to get it out of me. When I express it I feel pretty good." When asked about his long-term vision for sharing such personal experiences, he says, "I want people to know my story. My pieces have a message in them, a real message." Merlinda Petit, 15, also performed Thursday. Although she has been working for Teen Empowerment for three years, she also still gets nerves before a show. "It is nerve-racking," she says. "But at the end of the day you're glad you did it, because even if it was just one person you reached out there." When asked about her long-term goals for the project, she says, "I'm trying to limit ignorance and spread knowledge."