There were smiles all around as more than 100 youth workers received their first paychecks from UECDC's summer jobs program, funded by the Erie School District and the City of Erie Community Development Block Grant program. The six-week program puts young people to work on neighborhood cleanup and other tasks, while they learn practical skills such as computer coding, video production, organization and money management. All kids aren't bad! Many of them just need opportunities to put their energy to work productively.

Walking in Black History is a five-day-long "Freedom Ride" visiting major landmarks of the American Civil Rights movement. This was the 30th anniversary of the first trip in 1992. Thirty-eight students and 12 adult chaperones visited sites including the Dexter Avenue Baptist Chuch, 16th Street Baptist Church, Legacy Museum, National Peace and Justice Memorial, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The annual trip has been a life-changing experience for generations of Erie kids, and is completely free of charge to students. Other memorable sites visited included the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee Airmen museum, Morehouse and Spelman colleges in Atlanta, and the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change.

If you live in the area bounded by Buffalo Road, the Bayfront Connector, McClelland Avenue and East 12th Street, the Eastside Grassroots Coalition exists to represent your interests.