Aaron Smith and Jasmine Hicks of Young Invincibles talk to the audience at Asbury Hall on Wednesday evening. Photo: Open Buffalo
Justice & Opportunity
Young Invincibles, local performers bring the tools for change
Published August 8, 2013
At Asbury Hall Wednesday night, members of Young Invnicibles shared a bill with local performers to bring civic engagement tools to Buffalo.
The event will featured music, dance, and activism, bringing civic tools to a younger audience as part of an initiative to achieve full democratic participation, diversify our community, and achieve meaningful economic opportunity and sustainable wealth creation for people of all ages.
Young Invincibles is a national organization committed to mobilizing and expanding opportunities for young Americans between 18 and 34 years of age on issues like higher education, health care, and jobs. Aaron Smith, Co-founder and Executive Director, and Jasmine Hicks, State Outreach Coordinator, of Young Invincibles discussed tools to engage Buffalo's youth in their talk "The Power of Our Generation: Tools to Open Buffalo."
Suggestions, in this interactive talk, were taken from the audience on the issues facing the residents. Two of the most prevalent topics were education and jobs.
A number of local performers stepped up to join the effort in #becomingthechange for Buffalo. Inspirational Soul and Hip-hop singer Drea D'Nur and rapper Quadir Lateef performed, as did as dancers from Verve Dance Studio, which presented a workshop followed by an interactive performance. DJ Milk was the MC for the evening, and played at the beginning of the evening.
The event, organized by Open Buffalo and sponsored by the Open Society Foundations and the John R. Oishei Foundation, brought together 15 community organizations in support of the event including:
- Western New York Peace Center/Occupy Buffalo
- Save the Kids
- Clean Air Coalition
- Food and Water Watch
- UB Regional Institute/One Region Forward
- WNY Next Up
- Langston Hughes Institute
- Buffalo Urban League
- Hispanos Unidos de Buffalo
- Working Family Party
- Partnership for the Public Good
- Coalition for Economic Justice
- VOICE - Buffalo
- People United for Sustainable Housing
See below or visit our Flickr page for more photos and video of the event.
