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Her involvement with ACJ-YMCA has included participation as a program beneficiary, a staff member and a collaborator. Only 11 when she started coordinating her first youth group, her social and community engagement has never stopped. Mónica began her involvement with ACJ-YMCA in 2007 and soon became a Municipal Youth Councilor, and played a role in the inception of the Youth Development Index.


Mónica has always been keen to utilize communication to change communities. She says, “working with communities made me realize


that


has a very important in


transforming


communication role


societies.


Communication media can be platforms for critical that


promote solidarity and


teamwork in the community, relations


of respect and


recognition of the different actions in the field.” In 2008 Mónica and a number of other youth founded La Pupila, a community newspaper in the 4th District. 53 issues later, the newspaper has a website and


brings together more


than 50 young collaborators in the areas of radio, photography, multimedia and editing. In 2013 (with Mónica as director) La Pupila was nominated Best Printed Community Newspaper in Medellin.


For the youth of Medellin, who live in a context of vulnerability, it is not easy to transcend the multiple barriers that they face to become involved in the governance and decision-making that affect them. Much like Mónica, Luis Carlos Sánchez, is a young person who in spite of living amongst perpetual conflict was able to change his life and become a respected young leader in Medellin’s Comuna 13. For Carlos, the programs offered by the ACJ-YMCA of Medellin allowed him to not only develop his own skills as a leader, but also to use them to help others. He began his involvement with the YMCA as a beneficiary of the PreunYcom 13 program, which helped prepare him to gain admission to university. By 2007 Carlos had become a volunteer mathematics teacher in the very same program. Recently recognized by the University of Antioquia for his extracurricular activities in the fields of science and community work, Luis Carlos has represented the YMCA at the local, national and international levels.


thinking “


As a pharmacy student, Carlos was always looking for ways to use his professional knowledge to benefit others. In 2010, with twelve other YMCA volunteers, Luis Carlos founded the Yntegral Health project, which aimed to help the most vulnerable communities in Medellin and in the Antioquia region. As part of the program, “The Health Brigades”, small groups of volunteers visited communities and shared information about sexual health, family planning, oral health, hypertension and nutrition.[vi]


Carlos also became an


inspector at the Hospital Unit of the Comuna 13, observing the clinics’ functioning and service-delivery to the local community.


We are convinced that the future of Medellin depends on the ability of youth to think, decide and harness their power to make decisions in their own lives and build a city and a society where they all can grow and work in peace.


Mónica and Luis Carlos are good examples of


the


new generation of youth in Medellin.


They overcome have barriers faced


challenges in their lives and, with some help, were able to


and become active participants


in the transformation of their communities.


that it encourages young people to discover themselves, get to know their own strengths and weaknesses and become agents of change in their own communities. We are convinced that the future of Medellin depends on the ability of youth to think, decide and harness their power to make decisions in their own lives and build a city and a society where they all can grow and work in peace.





Medellin has become a model for other cities suffering from violence. The smart solutions in urban planning and social programs put in place by the ACJ-YMCA and other organizations have contributed to the reduction of violence in the city, and as a result in 2013 Medellin was elected the Most Innovative City in the World by the Urban Land Institute in a competition sponsored by the Wall Street Journal and Citigroup. The award recognized Medellin’s recent success in urban development, education policy and social development.[vii]


We believe that the ACJ- YMCA is


model integral in Medellin in helping youth


fight poverty, exclusion and violence. But we also believe


iAM March 2014


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