Reciprocity Foundation Helps Youth Design Their Future

In partnership with Green Chimneys, a housing program for homeless LGBT youth, the Reciprocity Foundation hosted a “Design Your Future” career workshop series that began in May and has helped twenty young New Yorkers sharpen their networking and soft skills.  2007 Echoing Green Fellows Taz Tagore and Adam Bucko began the Reciprocity Foundation to help youth at risk of homelessness develop into creative professionals. Their four-week workshop series featured industry advice from top executives at ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), Atlantic Records, Calvin Klein Home, Essence Magazine, and MTV, while providing valuable networking experience for its participants.

Four attendees, Green Chimneys residents Jamyrah Brown, Derrick Cobb, Paris Kiria, and Aneidy “Love” Merono, were interviewed by New York Magazine last week. They shared their career aspirations, as well as their experiences with homelessness, which affects 3800 New York City teenagers daily, according to a recent Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family Services survey. 

To learn more about the conference, read the article in Gay City News.