Youth-on-the-Move Members
Mission Statement
The Youth-On-The-Move, Inc. (YOMI) is a 501(c)(3) non-for-profit multi-cultural youth educational organization aimed to empower youth to succeed in school, the work world, and life in general – with the help of positive community role models.
Creed
I believe that I am special. I am the most important person I know.
I believe in a drug-free body that leads to a free mind.
I believe I should respect my fellow man, and be a good citizen.
I believe in strength and unity.
I believe I should trust in God.
I believe in setting goals and believing in myself.
I believe I should have dreams of positive mental attitude to be successful.
I believe in treating people the way I like to be treated.
This is my creed I want to achieve so help me God.
YOMI was incorporated in February of 1986 to promote artistic talent, job training and educational tutoring (“the three T’s”) for youth in grades K through 12. The organization’s tutorial program has grown into a first-class preparatory academy serving youth in grades 7 through 12.
This creed was developed by about 20 Youth-On-The_Move, Inc. youth members in 1987 with the assistance of a senior mentor (age 71 at the time), Dr. Clarice Isaac (Hall of Famer ’94). Each student had a turn in saying what he/she believed in – after spending about one hour combining and revising their beliefs, they came up with this creed.
Youth-on-the-Move, Inc. (YOMI)
The goals and purposes of the YOMI Tutorial Program are:
- To offer additional help to school-age youth in the areas of mathematics, reading, spelling, science. self-esteem building, cultural histories and computers.
- To help improve multicultural relations among youth, their families, the community and the schools.
- To serve as a liaison between the family and the school in order to improve the home/school relationships and student performances in the academic and social world. we work with parents/guardians, students, the community, the church, businesses, law enforcement agencies, role models and schools to reach this goal.
- To train and encourage youth to be ambassadors of the YOMI spirit and mission wherever they go.
- To train youth to be PEER TUTORS and ROLE MODELS, reaching back out to positively help other youth in academic areas.
- To assist schools in carrying out their goals and plans for effectiveness.
OUR MAJOR PURPOSE IS TO WORK WITH STUDENTS ALREADY IN SCHOOL (grades 1-8), BUT OTHERS ARE WELCOME
Talent in the Arts
The purposes of this component are:
To help develop the artistic abilities and creativity in YOMI youth
To identify youth who have artistic talents
To promote, expose and refer artistically talented YOMI youth (budding performing and/or visual artist/video producers) to public and private agencies
To produce talented YOMI youth (whenever possible)
To expose YOMI youth to the arts of various cultures
To promote the use of the arts for learning and problem solving
To promote and produce at least two major artistic performances each year
To encourage interaction among a wide variety of youth, adults, community organizers, business and others who have been interested in the arts (performing/visual video)
Testimonial
June 17, 2013
I want to express my gratitude to Youth On The Move for guiding and supporting me when I was young. Your organization provided me with a venue to showcase my talents and kept me focused on positive things. Your energy and spirit motivated and nurtured me.
When I was 17, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue my dream of being a singer, and at the age of 19, I landed a starring role in the ABC television mini-series The Jacksons: An American Dream, where I played the role of Jermaine Jackson. Shortly after that, I was accepted to UCLA where I majored in Ethnomusicology. While at UCLA, I was hired to sing lead on “In The Still Of The Night” in Whoopie Goldberg’s “Sister Act II”.
I loved many things about being in the entertainment business, but I remember feeling empty after I completed filming The Jacksons. The more success I had, the more and alone I felt. I was asked to host a children’s television talk show in Milwaukee around the time The Jacksons aired on television, and it really made a difference in my life. We filmed the show at an inner city school in Milwaukee, in front of a large group of students. I told my true story. I shared some of the painful circumstances of my childhood, and I was surprised to see the effect that this had on the children. Many of the children were going through what I had gone through growing up, and I was asked to speak to a select group of students in private. These were the students who had been most affected by my story. I was surprised to see many of them crying as they shared their stories with me. One of those students has remained in contact with me until this day.
Most African American children, like myself, see sports and entertainment as the only way out of the “ghetto”. UCLA opened up a world of new horizons for me. I applied to a study-abroad program and was given the opportunity to study French in Paris at no extra cost to myself. I backpacked through Europe all the way down to North Africa when my classes were finished. In Europe, I was not a black American. I was just an American. People were not afraid of me, and they didn’t follow me around stores when I shopped. I felt human for the first time in my life. That trip to Europe really changed me, and I wasn’t able to accept the limitations that my own country had placed on me because of my skin color and my socio-economic background. I decided that I would spend more time overseas– if I ever had the opportunity.
After I came back to America, I decided to try teaching, so I applied to a program called Teach For America where graduates from Ivy League schools were placed in inner city schools to help inner city children. I was placed in a school in the Bronx, NY, where I taught 5th grade. The attacks of 9-11 happened during my first week of teaching. I didn’t think that I would make a good teacher because I’d hated school. But in fact, teaching turned out to be the perfect job for me. I get bored very easily, so I had to make my class fun and exciting for my own sanity. At the end of the school year, I had brought the lowest-performing 5th grade class in the school up to the level of the top performing-class on the state exams. My students wrote me letters telling me how I’d made a difference in their lives, and I still have those letters.
I taught in New York City for about 8 years before the city began having massive budget cuts, and I was told that I might not have a job soon. I had been applying to for jobs teaching overseas for several years, and shortly before I was told that my job might be cut, I was offered a position teaching in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. I took the job and moved to Abu Dhabi. I loved living in Abu Dhabi, but after the school year ended, I began to miss my family and friends back home, so I decided to leave. Before I came home, I decided to take a trip to Egypt, which was nearby. I backpacked around Egypt for a few months and had a great time, until the revolution of 2011 started– right in front of my hotel. I was evacuated out of there, and went back home to California. After being home and connecting with my family and friends again, I was offered a position teaching at a University in Saudi Arabia, and I took it. I lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for a couple of years until I began missing home again. It is now the summer of 2013, and I am in New York City pondering what my next move is going to be. I’m leaving it up to God.
My story has not been without its trials and tribulations, but I believe that there are always solutions to whatever problems we face. A lot of us focus on money and some of us are willing to kill and die for it, but I have never been about money. I’ve always been about passion. I believe that if I follow my passion, the money will come.
-Letter from Khalid Teemer for Youth-on-the-Move