The All Stars Project of Chicago has introduced its performance-based approach of youth development to Fenger High School, the Far South Side public school that recently entered the national spotlight for a spurt of violence. The All Stars, however, has gotten a warm reception at Fenger-from students and staff alike. ASP Chicago Director David Cherry visited the school in early October to establish fruitful relationships with educators, including Fenger's resource coordinator, Zenobia Williams.
Operation Conversation was started in late 2006 by Dr. Lenora Fulani, as a grassroots experiment in the wake of the police shooting of Sean Bell in Queens. Since then, it has gained support from the New York Police Department and Commissioner Ray Kelly, from the Center on Race, Crime and Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and from inner-city young people throughout New York. In October, 2009 the ASP Board of Directors supported the adoption of Operation Conversation as a program of the All Stars Project. Read a first-person report from ASP president and CEO Gabrielle L. Kurlander, who observed a recent Operation Conversation: Cops and Kids workshop.
Growing up in the North Ward of Newark, New Jersey, Sadayah always thought that business professionals were stuck-up and uninterested in kids like her. But after attending the Development School for Youth workshops and interning at Ernst and Young, she was pleasantly surprised that the business professionals she met wanted to contribute to her success as a future accountant.
The All Stars Project held a education policy breakfast entitled Moving Beyond Remediation to Developmental After School with guest speaker Dennis Walcott, New York City Deputy Mayor of Education and Community Development (pictured center), on Thursday, October 8, 2009. The event, held at Ernst & Young's New York City headquarters was co-hosted by James S. Turley, the Chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young (pictured right) and Gabrielle Kurlander, President and CEO of the All Stars Project (pictured second from right). Lenora B. Fulani, Ph.D., co-founder of the All Stars Project (pictured second from left), and Antoine ‘RL' Joyce, youth leader and All Stars organizer (pictured left), were also featured.
On May 11, 2009, ASP President & CEO Gabrielle L. Kurlander and Dr. Lenora Fulani released a Special Report, entitled "Achievement Gap or Development Gap?: 'Outliers' and Outsiders Reconsider an Old Problem." The paper outlines these two leaders' thoughts about a much-discussed subject in the field of youth development: the "achievement gap" in public schools between Black and Latino students and their white, typically middle-class, counterparts.
Using the performance-based approach to youth development pioneered at the All Stars Project as a reference point, Kurlander and Fulani argue that the debate needs to be re-framed as an issue of development: before Black and Latino students can "achieve" in ways comparable to white students, they must first learn how to "become learners." The paper argues that outside-of-school supplemental education activities, like the programs of the All Stars, can play a central role in helping to close the development gap.
Mission Statement
The All Stars Project, Inc. (ASP) is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting human development through the use of an innovative performance-based model. The ASP creates outside of school, educational and performing arts activities for thousands of poor and minority young people. It sponsors community and experimental theatre, develops leadership training and pursues volunteer initiatives that build and strengthen communities.
The ASP actively promotes supplementary education and the performance learning model in academic and civic areas.
Featured Video
Youth Spotlight
