The Issues and Assets of African Youth on Staten Island's North Shore:

ConclusionThis assessment was exploratory in nature – being the onlysuch assessment completed to date on <strong>African</strong> youth in theNorth Shore. <strong>The</strong>re are as many new questions as answers,<strong>and</strong> further investigation is merited to pick up where thisassessment has left <strong>of</strong>f, <strong>and</strong> improve on it.Nevertheless, this assessment makes clear many <strong>of</strong> thebarriers <strong>African</strong> youth in the North Shore face to achievingtheir potential, <strong>and</strong> many opportunities to build their assets tobreak those barriers. It also shows that taking the time toinvolve <strong>and</strong> listen to youth <strong>and</strong> parents is extremely valuable<strong>and</strong> empowering in itself.Negative outcomes, such as gang involvement, violence,alcohol <strong>and</strong> drug use, drug dealing, dropping out, <strong>and</strong> unsafesex are not caused by one factor alone, <strong>and</strong> a singleapproach alone will not create a more empoweringcommunity. Coordinated, complementary initiatives have thepotential to increase positive impact. Policy makers, schools,service providers, parents, <strong>and</strong> youth themselves all have arole in creating a more empowering community <strong>and</strong> shoulduse this assessment as a catalyst for critical dialogue <strong>and</strong>action.Table 3 reflects on the basic types <strong>of</strong> assets that youth need<strong>and</strong> the status <strong>of</strong> these assets in the North Shore, <strong>and</strong>suggests actions to take to build youth‟s personal assets <strong>and</strong>community assets.Figure 22: Zubah Gizzie, 18, draws his dreamcommunity at the Taking a St<strong>and</strong> event on August 2,2008. Photo by Bill Lyons/Staten Isl<strong>and</strong> Advance.33