The gentrification of the Mission District brought a "gang list" that affected young people in a 60-block radius, limiting their freedom of movement and association. Vicente Garcia used his 2007 Young People For fellowship to organize the community to stop the gang list.
Featured Fellows: Asia McFarland and Vincent Evans
Asia McFarland, a 2008 YP4 fellow and third-year M.B.A. student at Florida A&M University in Jacksonville, Florida, has worked hard to change her campus for the better. As elections and appointments chair and sophomore senator in the Student Senate, majoring in international marketing and minoring in Japanese, she plans to eventually go to law school to specialize in entertainment or corporate law.
Vincent Evans, a 2008 YP4 fellow and a junior political science and pre-law student, has also been active in student government as director of student lobbying, special assistant to the president, and vice president of the FAMU Student Government Association. He is also a State of Florida National College Crime Watch Representative and a member of the Student National Alumni Association, the Student Coalition for Justice and the FAMU chapter of the NAACP.
Vincent and Asia have worked together to execute a Blueprint for Social Justice focused on voter rights and empowerment. Their project, Sleep Out the Vote, has made a big splash. Sleep Out the Vote aimed to engage the students from several area college campuses by offering a night of fun and a sleepover at a local civic center to ensure that students were up early to get to the polls on November 4. They will continue to engage students to use their polling power to make change happen in their communities on November 5 and beyond.
» Nominate a college student leader for the YP4 fellowship today.Interview by Elisabeth Wilhelm, fall 2008 communications intern, for November 2008.
What do you stand for?
VINCE: I stand for peace, equality, democracy, equal rights, equal protection, education, freedom, and free speech for blacks, whites and everyone in between. I stand for “We the People.”
ASIA: I stand for giving every citizen equal opportunity as stated by law, the chance to register to vote and cast a ballot. Disenfranchisement has affected students for too long and I want to spark change.
How did you come to YP4? How has YP4 affected your ability to carry out social justice projects and be a leader on campus?
VINCE: I came to Young People For after being nominated by a former fellow. I have been afforded every opportunity as a fellow to take an active role in the progressive movement and make a firm commitment to impacting my campus and community. This has opened many doors and exciting ventures for me.
Because of my fellowship I have gained a greater consciousness for the real need to effectuate change in the way that I want to see it on my campus. I’ve faced the difficult task of making a seat at the table for students who otherwise were unengaged and apathetic, and while often it was difficult the fight was well worth it. Young People For has been a phenomenal support system over the course of this year that has provided me with resources that otherwise would have been very difficult to obtain. I owe so very much to YP4, and I view this as an opportunity to give back what has been given to me.
ASIA: I was nominated by [2007 fellow] Mario Henderson and then I did some research to see exactly what YP4 was about, and I applied. YP4 has definitely given me the tools I need to be a proactive leader. I use the tools that were given to me in the workshops at the Summit.
I see both of you are members of student government. How has that helped you on your quest to execute your Blueprint?
VINCE: Before [the Summit in] D.C., Asia and I were close friends and had worked on a couple of projects together, and after the conference it only increased. We started planning and implementing different events and projects for election ’08. Student government has certainly been an important part of the process. Our student leadership has been more than supportive of our efforts and SGA has afforded us the opportunity to have access and provided us many valuable resources.
ASIA: Student government has helped us have access to networks and materials that normally we would not have. Student government has backed us in our endeavors and showed that the student body will address the issue of voting head-on.
You recently completed the first stage of the Sleep Out the Vote Blueprint. Tell me a bit about how it all unfolded. Did you hit any roadblocks? How did you overcome them?
VINCE: We hit some roadblocks a couple of days out from the event with the university. Some drastic changes had to take place because of our local civic center. However, through working with the university administration; we were able to rework the event and make it successful for our students. We learned a great deal about how to overcome obstacles that come your way, especially in the last hour.
What will you be doing in the run-up to the elections and after November 4? How will you keep the students who are involved with Sleep Out the Vote engaged in the social justice and progressive programs on campus?
VINCE: We will be shuttling students to and from the polls leading up to November 4. We will have a campus headquarters on Election Day to ensure that students will be protected at the voting precinct on campus. Students will have the opportunity to view one last watch party, because on November 4 we will host a huge community watch party on our campus with TV One and hopefully ABC national news.
ASIA: The plan after November 4 is to institutionalize the vote work that we did so that it will continue to be a driving force of action amongst the student body. Hopefully this election has engaged the young vote so much that students will be more proactive about vote work.
What wisdom/advice do you have to share about organizing such a huge Blueprint and implementing change on your campus? What would you do differently next time?
VINCE: I would have to say that it takes a great deal of hard work and passion. If you don’t love the struggle than the progressive movement is not for you. It truly is a labor of love. I believe we did the best we could knowing what we did; however, I would definitely ensure that next time around we had more hands on deck to help in this process.
ASIA: My biggest piece of advice would be to have a concrete and well thought-out plan, including the task force to implement it. Also, provide yourself with enough time for your Blueprint, because time is your only enemy in completing any plan.
» Nominate a college student leader for the YP4 fellowship today.