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With strength in numbers, my thoughts are that the more organizations that seem to be unified in their approach serving youth, the louder their collective voices will be in encouraging this movement. The two components to FLASH, the initiative and the program, are simple.

FLASH Description

We are ENTREPRENEURS who understand the value of community advancement as a necessity for the future of the people in our neighborhoods, our city, our nation and our world.

We are ACTIVISTS, standing, walking, and running for righteousness, equality, and justice under a united front that we build together through peace and love.

We are STUDENTS who know how important and equitable true education is, and that learning should stretch beyond the classroom.

We are PARENTS, showing our children virtue, morality, respect, and love through the construction of the mind, body, and spirit.

We are CITIZENS, consciously taking interest in our environments, ensuring universal safety, just legislation, and equity for all.

We are EDUCATORS, teaching the importance of history, HERstory, YOURstory and MYstory so that THEstory is less of a mystery.

We are HUMAN BEINGS and we treat each other as such.

We are FUTURE LEADERS ADVANCING SELF HELP.

FLASH Initiative

The FLASH Initiative will gather more proactivity among youth, influence service, make community engagement easy and rewarding, and provide more productive citizens to the city.

• Get organizations to pledge to be to be Future Leaders Advancing Self Help
• Create online database for citizens to get involved to civic and service based organizations in their city
• Empower people young people through making resource connection easy
• Become a nationwide movement

FLASH Program

The FLASH Program will instill leadership, collaboration and early community creation, citizen development and early involvement, and educate outside of the classroom.

• Educate kids on local, national, and international past and current events
• Allow kids to generate conversation and research information
• Challenge kids to make a difference through creating projects, business ventures, bringing awareness, etc.
• Have kids pitch their ideas as a group to Philadelphia officials, public figures, and organizations to gather support for their cause.

As of now, FLASH is only a few organizations short and a website away from reaching the mayors office. This is important because through gathering the support of the city's mayor, reaching to other organizations, the Philadelphia school district, and the many departments of the city won't be too much of an issue. The goal is that through the support of the city's officials, FLASH can gather Philadelphia's public figures, celebrities, greatest influences, and more to be supporters. The hardest part of this process will be to gather youth involvement, but if we can successfully gather the support of public figures, that shouldn't be an issue.

I was originally just going to contact my local recreation building, as they offer after school programs for the neighborhood children, to lobby my cause, but I then decided to speak with the people who have more power over the decisions made about the school programs in our city. This way, I would get my point across in a more direct, personal, and stronger way. If I were to have contacted my local recreation center, I would have only spoken with one of the many heads of after school programs in Philadelphia; I would have only covered one out of the ten districts of Philadelphia. This would have gotten me only a fraction of the way into what I want to accomplish-more funding towards after school programs of Philadelphia. 

In order to follow up with my two contacts, I will wait for them to respond to my phone calls and emails. I have already taken the first step of speaking with them and introducing myself to them, now I just have to present my case to them. I will do this by finding other groups of people, possibly Philadelphia towns people, including children and parents who also want funding for after school programs in our city. I might take my lobbying a step further by actually visiting city council with other people with similar goals to mine, and actually speaking directly with Ms. Iris Howard and Anne Marie Dunne about funding for after school programs. I will have my lobbying partners present their personal experiences and reasons why they need these services, and will then present my reason for why it is beneficial to fund these programs. If this does not work, then I will need  a stronger voice to represent my cause and might have to contact my district council member, Mr. Frank DiCicco. If I can communicate my lobbying cause to him, he will have more of a chance of getting word to the other council members, and there might be more funding for after school programs. 

I feel that speaking to strong decision makers concerning lobbying topics is the most direct and strongest way to make progress. I feel however, that since we are high school students and since there are so many other different situations going on in city council, congress, and the supreme court that our lobbying causes are going to be overlooked. We would have a better chance of being heard if we join a group of people who have a similar cause as us or if we can get someone with a lot of power in government to represent us. Otherwise, we are all just numbers without a voice or representation. 

 Para mi, la eutanasia no es un crimen. Como yo lo entiendo, en España, la eutanasia no es legal o es legal pero necesito los jueces a aprobar. Es ridículo que los jueces creen que los personas que están sufrieran necesitan a vivir. No es justo por los jueces a imponer sus creencias a Ramón Sampedro. Ramón esta lucido y el entiendo que para quitarse la vida, es necesario por otros personas a ayudar Ramón. Ramón tiene el derecho a tomar la decisión y es los mas importante a respetar el deseo de Ramón.   

Yo estoy de acuerdo con Ramón, pienso que una persona tiene el derecho a escoger que pasa con su vida, y cuando piensa que no es digna, puede quitarse la vida. Yo pienso que sí fuera un tetrapléjico, me quitaría mi vida también, porque no pienso que es una vida digna, porque no puedes hacer nada. Yo pienso que la muerte es una cosa que la persona puede escoger, es la vida de la persona, y no de los otros.

En mi opinion, Mar Adentro era una película buena. Era marvilloso, deprimente, y controvertido. El reparto son muy bueno, ellos tienen mucho emoción todo la pelicula. Mi mejor actor lation era, Alejandro Amenábar y el es fantástico en la película. El no están un tetrapléjico pero el jugar el parte de un tetrapléjico muy bueno. Los actiones de al y el tono de la voz de el son muy emotionale. La actuación del reparto para mi, era muy bueno porque los personas tienen mucho emotionales en los actiones y las palabras ellos dicen. Me convencieron de los emotionales y yo llorar un poquito.

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The task that me and my partner decided to do was obtaining a business license. You need a paper that states that it is legal to have a building that you a business out of. If you don’t own these papers then it will be impossible or illegal to make a profit out of a building.To get this license you need to file for a number of different things. But to be short and to the point you need to apply for all of the L & I approvals, these are the things you need in order to ensure that the building will be properly ran. Then you apply for a tax account number, pay the fee that you will need, and send everything in. L & L Approvals will take you through every procedures that you need to make sure you get your license to own your own business.

         Doing project was a great experience and it wasn’t hard. At times it was very tedious and the hard part was consuming our time. However, the hardest pat for us was finding the actual paper work. The work was very straightforward but because we needed to make the information up it made it more difficult because we didn't know what everything was. I like how they stated if it was denied what you can do. So having every little detail really helps.

          I think doing this for our project was the hardest choice because they don’t just want anyone owning a business. You need to know exactly what and where everything will be, there is no time for mistakes or "going with the flow" after you get the business. It will be time for getting the money and being successful, which I agree with I just wish everything was easier to find. All and all, this was good to learn and something new!

1. What is the status of your issue at the legislature? Is this a "good" year?

How many elected officials have indicated support for your issue? Is there public support behind it, with good media attention? Who are your opponents, and how much power do they have? Has a policy been written to address your issue, or do you need to work with an elected official to write one?

Blondell Reynolds Brown

Maria D. Quinones-Sanchez

FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Vs. Cooper.

Question: What did congress mean by actual damages?

The issue:  The issue is do mental and emotional injuries count and actual damages under the privacy act of 1974?

Cooper sued:  In 2007 Cooper sued the federal government saying the three agencies in safe pilots intentionally violated the privacy act when they sent his records to other agencies trying to cause him embarrassment, humiliation, mental anguish and emotional distress

 Privacy act no. 5 U.S.C

Cooper’s rational:  he felt as though people knowing his HIV status would have a bad effect on his job and his being gay would affect other aspects in his life.

CASE:  This case was about a man named Stanmore Cawthon Cooper was private airplane pilot since 1964 and when you are a pilot you get a flying certificate and to legally be able to fly a plane you have to follow the rules set by the FAA which is a pilot has to have a valid up to date “airman certificate” and this means the you have to let the FAA know if you have any illness or disabilities or surgeries you have had or have currently. This became a problem for cooper because in 1985 he was diagnosed with HIV and he knew that he would not be able to get his certification to fly with this on his records so he decided that he would stop flying. Then in 1994 with this he had to give in his medical information again but this time he chose not to give the information on him having HIV. This time because he did not tell them about his HIV he received his flying certificate and for ten years he was flying for ten years each year still keeping this information hidden. Copper eventually got caught when one his health started getting worse and he applied for SSA (social security Administration.) for long term disability. and when he applied he told the SSA the he had HIV with the understanding the everything he puts in the application is private and confidential in order for them to see if they find him eligible. He was found eligible and received the benefits from SSA for a year during this year his health improved drastically and he no longer needed the benefits so he drops the SAA he was receiving. In 2002 and agency named DOT (department of transportation came out with “Operation safe Pilot” which was an investigation to find unfit people with pilot certificates and this agency was partnered with the SAA so during the investigation they went through the list of people who were pilots and cross examined their information to make sure everything matched up and while doing this they found that Cooper had been lying and not telling them about his HIV status.  Because he lied to the government in 2005 he was found guilty on 3 counts of false statements to government agency. He pleaded guilty to one count. His pilot certificate was revoked. No decision has been made but Copper is fought to get his pilot certificate back and he did after careful consideration the FAA reinstated it for him.

Alex Johnson

Mar Adentro y La Muerte ¿Un crimen o derecho?

            La película “Mar Adentro” se trata de un hobmre llamado Ramón Sampedro. El era un pescador pero después de un accidente que es una tragedia, el era un tetrapléjico. El es la protagonista de la película. Mar Adentro tiene lugar en Galicia, España. Ramon lucha por los derechos humanos a vive y a la muerte. El piensa que la muerte es un derecho y por que el esta sufriendo, el quiere a quitarse la vida. La película muestra la lucha de Ramón por los derechos y opinas de mas personas en España sobre la eutanasia.

            La película, Mar Adentro, es controvertida porque presenta unas preguntas polémicas tales como los vidas de los tetrapléjicos, ¿la eutanasia es un crimen?, y los derechos humanos y ¿si la muerte es un derecho? Para la sociedad estas preguntas abren debates feroces porque mas de la gente en España piensan que eutanasia no es un crimen. Sin embargo, la iglesia y los juzgues piensan que la vida vale la pena y que la vida es un derecho.

            Para mi, la eutanasia no es un crimen. Como yo lo entiendo, en España, la eutanasia no es legal o es legal pero necesito los jueces a aprobar. Es ridículo que los jueces creen que los personas que están sufrieran necesitan a vivir. No es justo por los jueces a imponer sus creencias a Ramón Sampedro. Ramón esta lucido y el entiendo que para quitarse la vida, es necesario por otros personas a ayudar Ramón. Ramón tiene el derecho a tomar la decisión y es los mas importante a respetar el deseo de Ramón.

            Como yo lo entiendo, Mar Adentro es un buen película. La película tiene suspenda y ación en partes perfectas. La actuación en todos los escenas fue muy buen. Lo que Ramon separaba por tanto años es la fin de la película. La muerte de Ramon fue conmovedora y muy emocional. Además, los poemas y diarios de Ramón fue interesante y la contenta era muy difícil para entender. Para mi, esta película de Alejandro Amenábae es conmovedora, y brillante también. Esta película me fascinó. 

- Ubicado en: 1213 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, PA

- 3 cosas que este mural revela sobre la comunidad

• La comunidad respetan los trabajadores
• La comunidad tiene muchos personas que cuidan sobre los trabajadores
• La comunidad tiene mucho unidad en medio la gente de la comunidad

• El estructura estando construido por la comunidad
• Los trabajadores trabajan en el edificio
  

• Es significativo para esta comunidad porque es monstran que la gente respetan los trabajadores y entienden qué los personas hacen todos los días para ellos.

En mural que yo tengo se llama Artsolutely Awesome North Philly....Yeah!!! y se ubica en 1516 Parrish St
3 cosas que este mural revela sobre la comunidad 
- Ensaya sobre la historia africana americana. 
- La comunidad le importa mucho sobre su antepasado-a llenos    le gustan los colores brillantes.

2 objetos,imagenes,frases o palabras en el mural.
en el mural yo vi imagenes de la esclavitud y tambien veo mucho sobre la antepasado de la la lente africana.  
una razón porque es significante es que ensilla sobre la historia africana 

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Ubicado en 26 Avenue de Ridge en Filadelfia.

El mural es sobre de muchas personas diferente en la comunidad unificado por la lucha contra de HIV y AIDS.  El mural tiene un frase muy importante que dice, 'Pobreza ni racismo ni discriminación puede prevalecer cuando uno de unos es en un lucha con HIV. Objetos encontrados en el mural son personas donde la comunidad y un muy grande mundo con un cuerda rojo largo. El mural es muy significo porque es represente un unificado comunidad estan en contra de la lucha con HIV y AIDS. Tres cosas que este mural revela sobre la comunidad que la es que la comunidad es muy fuerte, los personas cuidan por la salud de la comunidad y los personas en el comunidad son Africanos Americanos.