Young people share trials, triumphs at Detroit KidSpeak 2011

Finishing high school while raising two children was full of challenges for twenty-year-old Kinita McDaniel. But she knew she had to set an example for her kids and provide a good life for them, so she persevered with the help of Detroit’s Ferguson Academy for Young Women, an alternative school where she found the supports she needed to excel.

“I graduated, but it was not easy,” said McDaniel, who is now taking classes at the University of Phoenix. She cried as she described the sexual abuse she endured by a stepfather, who is now in prison. “My problem is helping the young girls like me who have been through a lot stay in school and stay focused. We need more resources for teen parents.”

As one of a dozen youth speakers at Detroit KidSpeak 2011, McDaniel used her personal story to illustrate for city leaders, state policymakers and community activists the need for alternative schools like Ferguson to help more young girls.

The President’s Day forum sponsored by Michigan’s Children brought young people from the Skillman Foundation’s Good Neighborhoods within the city of Detroit and other targeted areas supported by the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan to the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit to educate local and state leaders on how they can work together to improve education outcomes for young people who reside in and around the city of Detroit. Educational barriers identified by the young people included access to transportation to get to school, special schools designed for teen parents, free or low-cost credit recovery programs, access to school counseling programs, teacher quality, and student-teacher relationships.

Kinita McDaniel

The teens, ages 16-20, spoke to a panel of policymakers and advocates including Detroit City Council members Ken Cockrel Jr., JoAnn Watson, Saunteel Jenkins and James Tate; Michigan Department of Human Services Director Maura Corrigan, and Skillman Foundation President and CEO Carol Goss.

Operating on a statewide and local basis, KidSpeak brings youths before listening panels comprised of state legislators, community leaders, policymakers and others to talk about issues affecting young people. The forums empower youths by giving them a voice in public policy debates and provide policymakers and leaders a rare opportunity to hear the concerns of youths.

This event was made possible through partnerships with the University of Michigan School of Social Work’s Youth and Community Program and the Detroit Parent Network, and the generous support of the Skillman Foundation, Kresge Foundation and the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan.