The Browns partnered with the City of Cleveland to host the second annual City of Cleveland Youth Summit, a student-oriented workshop on topics ranging from relationships to mental health.
Nearly 200 attendees from schools across the city gathered under the theme, 'Rock Your Voice: The Voices of Today's Youth to Pave the Way for a Better Tomorrow,' at Huntington Bank Field to participate in discussions about relationships and collaborate with their peers on creative projects, which they later presented in front of a panel of judges.
"I really love the fact that the Browns are dedicated to thinking about healthy relationships," City of Cleveland Chief of Youth & Family Success Sonya Pryor-Jones said. "And when we ultimately think about everything and child development and youth development, it starts with relationships. The relationships people have with themselves, their own self-image, their own agency and then the relationship that they have with their peers and the greater community. So, having the Browns as a partner in this, it really lines up with their brand and their commitment, it lines up with the things that we want to make sure we improve for Cleveland kids."
The event was part of the city's "Thriving Youth Series," which hosted five events in the month of October geared to celebrate the importance of impactful youth development programming. Other events included the Future Shades in Medicine Youth Summit, which hosted students interested in working in healthcare, and STEM Saturday, an event allowing students to explore different STEM activities.
"We have a range of programming that not only supports youth but also those doing the work in the community," Program Manager for Youth & Family Success for the City of Cleveland Samantha Holmes said. "We're really excited that the Youth Summit is really youth driven during the Thriving Youth Series, and this is a day for them put on by them and so their feedback throughout this process has been vital to making today's event a success."
Earlier in the day C Ethan Pocic and CB Mike Ford Jr. stopped by to spend time with the students as they took part in workshops and began working on creative projects that were presented at the end of the day. Pocic and Ford spoke to the students and participated in some of the ice breaker activities at each group.
"It was a really, really fun day," Ya'Mari Blevins, a sophomore at Garrett Morgan School of Leadership & Innovation, said. "What stood out to me the most was how engaging the teachers and everyone who was controlling the situation. They made us feel really, really comfortable with them."
Blevins and the other students split up into three groups representing different artistic cohorts facilitated by three different community partners. Blevins took part in the music group, helping to write a hip song about the pride the students felt for their hometown.
Refresh Collective, a nonprofit that empowers youth and adults through the power of hip-hop, helped facilitate the song writing process.
"Music is a part of everything we do," Marc Johnson, a high school student who also emceed the event, said. "Just the fact that you can change somebody's emotion by your own words, your own lyrics and your own emotions is amazing."
To see a large group of students, many of whom had never met, grow close over the course of the day's activities and invest in their creative projects was inspiring for Pryor-Jones.
"It's beyond inspiring. It really speaks to the hope that I also have for our city," Pryor-Jones said. "Like our young people talked about today, so often we hear the negative things but there is a lot of great, just brilliance in the young people who live in this city, and they have a future that they're designing it and thinking about, and this just allows us to be a part of it."
Students who participated were selected by their teachers for their drive for impacting their local communities. Several students lined up after the event's conclusion and thanked Pryor-Jones and other adults who helped put on the event.
The music group was awarded the top prize over the theater performance and public service announcement groups, winning $25 gift cards. All students received gift bags with Browns gear. Three students – including Blevins – who spoke in front of the group about their experiences that day were given tickets to an upcoming Browns game.
"It made me feel like our Cleveland influences really do care," Blevins said as she reflected on the event. "They feel like we matter, and they showed us that."
