[ STUDENT UNION ] State budget cuts have hurt the Chester school district ...

State budget cuts have hurt the Chester school district in many ways: Class sizes have grown beyond capacity, two high schools merged into one overcrowded building, some elementary school grades have been combined due to lack of staff. In this report, Chester students, parents and community members speak out about how the massive cuts to state education spending are affecting them. This piece was produced by Keith Lomax.

Chester Green Youth Collective: Chester's Green Thumb

by Angel Pabon aka ActivistKid20

Chester Green attendees focused on Non-Violent
Direct Action training given by Heather Milton.

On October 28th-30th, the Chester Green Youth Collective had launched its first ever Environmental Youth Engagement in Chester City. It was facilitated by 4 youth organizers in Chester; Mark Matthews, Chris Shavers, Ciara Williams and Angel Pabon. The event had free food, plenty of Environmental Justice/Awareness workshops, and a toxic tour that gave visitors an experience of the polluting facilities on the Chester Water Front. There were plenty of challenges to hop over when this particular event was still being discussed over an excessive amount of conference calls, and personal meetings with Community Organizers. But nevertheless, triumph had arose before many of the organizers and volunteers that refused top let this summit CRASH. Chester Green definitely had a huge turn out, and more collectives like this is to be expected from those who attended. There was a lot of stuff looked over about what we can do to get the community engaged, and how. Much of those concerns were explained through a Non-violent Protest workshop developed by "The Ruckus Society."

This event was an enriched and recreational experience, considering that there were a nice amount of Chester Youth and people from some parts of the U.S. (Texas, Mississippi, North Dakota, Louisiana). The exercises and activities had created a sense of positive fulfillment and hope for youth and the city of Chester. After that collective, Chester Green is slowly becoming a process for the Chester Youth Organizers to engage young people in a creative and innovative method.

There will be more to come from that collective in the future, most likely soon.