[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 163 (Wednesday, November 4, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S11116]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       RECOGNIZING NEW URBAN ARTS

 Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, today I honor New Urban Arts of 
Providence, RI, which has been honored by the White House with the 2009 
Coming Up Taller Award, the Nation's highest honor for out-of-school 
arts and humanities programs. New Urban Arts is a model for what the 
arts can do in the lives of our urban youth, giving them the 
opportunity to explore the limitless possibilities of their own 
imaginations and helping them apply what they discover to goals they 
set for their futures.
  New Urban Arts was founded in 1997 as a collaboration between local 
high school and college students, with the support of the Swearer 
Center for Public Service at Brown University. It has grown from those 
14 students in a loft at Grace Church in downtown Providence into an 
organization that serves over 300 high school students every year.
  The New Urban Arts afterschool and summer programs provide these 
students with the opportunity to work with established local artists 
who act as both mentors and peers, with the young people creating new 
works of art that reflect their experiences. We know that for youth who 
are on their own after school, the hours between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. are 
a danger zone, a peak time for juvenile crime and experimentation with 
drugs and alcohol. Not only does New Urban Arts give youth in 
Providence a place to go, it provides them with a safe space where they 
can express themselves through many different art mediums and with 
people who can nurture their talent. This includes members from Rhode 
Island's acclaimed arts community, which has long understood the need 
to invest in our state's youth and arts education. And luckily for the 
people of Rhode Island, the New Urban Arts gallery and exhibition 
spaces allow all of us to share in the joy of that new talent.
  Our investment in the youth of Providence has paid dividends. Three-
quarters of the students who participate in the New Urban Arts program 
are low-income and over half live in neighborhoods where the poverty 
rate is four times the national rate. Despite these challenges, over 90 
percent of the seniors in this group graduate high school and attend 
college. When I was attorney general of Rhode Island, I saw what too 
often happened to students who did not know how to set goals for 
themselves or understand the importance of education--they ended up in 
the juvenile justice system. New Urban Arts helps students chart a 
course toward the future by inspiring them to create and introducing 
them to adults who are invested in them and treat them as equals.
  This wonderful model has attracted national attention, including this 
most recent honor, the 2009 Coming Up Taller Award. This award 
recognizes afterschool and out-of-school arts and humanities programs 
for youth in traditionally underserved communities. It honors programs 
that foster the creative and intellectual development of our Nation's 
children. The ideals set out by the Coming Up Taller Award are 
certainly met by New Urban Arts, and I know that they will build on 
this honor by helping more students.
  I would like congratulate all of the students and mentors who make 
New Urban Arts such a dynamic and innovative program, as well as its 
executive director, Jason Yoon, and the chairwoman of the New Urban 
Arts Board of Directors, Myrth York. Their hard work and dedication to 
the youth of Providence and to the arts will ensure that New Urban Arts 
continues to help our young people realize their potential into the 
future, and to serve as model for the rest of the Nation.

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