TURN IT AROUND / TIA jr
Family & Friends Newsletter:
February 2024

The purpose of this newsletter is to highlight our amazing youth leaders and all of the activities taking place in the community that they are involved in.

We hope to further engage the mentors and adults in these young people's lives and are available to parents and guardians to answer any questions about our programming. If you need assistance regarding your youth, please feel free to reach out to our Youth Program Manager Mswati Hanks.
SEASON OF LOVE

February's theme for Turn It Around was all things "LOVE". February is of course known for Valentine's Day!! And when it comes to Turn It Around, that means ONE thing: Love Jars!! This has become a yearly tradition at Turn it Around. Everyone has a jar, that they created, with their name on it and everyone writes a note, to every single member of the group, saying something that they love, like, or appreciate about that person. At the end of the night everyone goes home with a jar filled with LOVE and the kind and caring words of their fellow Turn It Around members!!
We show LOVE and support to each other
The one thing that makes Turn It Around such a special program is that once you join, you immediately have 30 NEW FRIENDS!! We truly are a family. And when one of us is doing something special, we come out and support them. So on a cold Feb. 29 Leap Year evening, 17 Turn It Around members took the train to Boston English High School in Jamaica Plain to go see fellow member and high school senior, Miracle Rose, perform with the school's Jazz Band at the Mid-Year Awards Ceremony. Miracle plays multiple instruments and is so talented!!
YOUTH OF THE MONTH

Our Turn It Around Youth of the Month for January is Destany Samuels!! This award was LONG OVERDUE. "Des" has been a superstar since she joined Turn It Around a little over 2 years ago. She's such a positive person!! She's kind and caring, and truly a friend to ALL in the group. She's at every single meeting and almost all the events, as well. I just wish I had 5 more Destany's!!
Race Dialogues

This past month's Race Dialogue was definitely special. We had quite a few people show up for their first time with us, and it only added to the rich conversation. This month's topic focused on "Wokeness", and asked each person what their "take" was on the term. The answers were as diverse as the participants, and equally as eloquent. It's always so wonderful when you can feel this much positive energy in one room that it's palpable!! If you haven't experienced it for yourself, what are you waiting for? Not only are you missing out, but we're missing out on YOU!!

Hoping to see you at our next Race Dialogue. Tuesday, March 19 at 5:30.
LOVE JARS

TIA jr.'s theme for February was "LOVE". And just like big brother Turn It Around, TIA jr. created their first-ever Love Jars!! It was so beautiful to watch

Creating the world we WANT

Sand-tray therapy is a very powerful, therapeutic technique where personal experience can be translated into a concrete, 3-dimensional form. On this day we used the trays for creating our IDEAL world. If you had a magic wand, and could create the perfect life for yourself, what would that look like? In today's world of Tik Tok's and Snapchat and Instagram, young people RARELY have a chance to slow down and be introspective. The exercise was meant to teach them that we can create the life we want for ourselves. With the right supports, and hard work and dedication, we can ALL achieve our dreams! Sometimes young people need to be given permission that it's ok to dream BIG!!
YOUTH(s) OF THE MONTH
TIA jr.'s Youth of the Month for January was Ermindo De Andrade. Mindo has been really doing great this year!! The thing that I'm MOST proud of Mindo about is that each and every group he improves. His growth and maturity in such a short span of time has been incredible!!
TIA jr.'s Youth of the Month for January was Marquile Turner. Marquile has come such a long way since joining TIA jr. last year. He has really blossomed into one of the LEADERS of the group. And I have a feeling that in next month's newsletter we will be announcing Marquile as our newest 8th Grade Ambassador!!
Thank you for helping us raise the next generation
of community leaders!