Uniting America: Youth Reaching Out to Youth

On Sunday, I met with leaders from the Webb Foundation at Downers Grove South High School.  Each Sunday, the Webb Foundation puts on a un-Sunday school program for Muslim youth.  They provide the usual offerings of a Muslim weekend school, like Arabic and Qur’an classes, but this program goes beyond the basics.  Alongside these classes, The Webb Foundation places a strong focus on service, creating community service projects for their youth.

In the spirit of Uniting America, the Webb Foundation wants to create a program that allows their youth to connect with refugee families to help them learn English.  They are looking for the connections of Uniting America to help them get involved with the refugee population in their area.  The goal of the proposed program is for the youth to reach out to the youth, providing English lessons through board games, theater and films.  The foundation wants their students to connect with this incoming population through activities that youth enjoy.
The Webb Foundation’s ideas show how creative Uniting America can be in reaching out to the immigrant community.  There are ways for youth and others to be involved beyond one-on-one ESL tutoring.  Learning English or preparing for citizenship can be a fun activity for everyone involved.  I think we can all gain inspiration and motivation from the Webb Foundation’s ingenuity and embrace of Uniting America’s goals.