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Wooded path in autumn
YF Neighborhood

Finding the Good Way

By Kurt Rietema The leaves barely blushed with fall color. A canal dating back to the time when Aaron Burr haunted these New Jersey woods had a footpath that lured me out of the hotel room that morning. From the…

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Youth at a local juvenile detention center present their ideas for an aftercare plan.
Imagine X

A Taste of Freedom

By Kurt Rietema The 12 kids gathered around the tables for ImagineX were about the same as any other group of kids that I’ve led through our youth social entrepreneurship program. It was a mixed group of Latino kids, Black…

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Swim instructor works with Argentine student during swim lessons
YF Neighborhood

Making a Splash: Middle schoolers’ dream for pool equity propels change for local elementary kids

A greater portion of January was spent bundling up and covering every exposed appendage from the extremes of the polar vortex. But on Wednesday afternoons, the kids in Youthfront Neighborhood’s Adventure Academy afterschool program in Argentine donned swimming suits as they splashed around the pool during swimming lessons at the YMCA. Peals of laughter and delight ricocheted across the surface of the water from every corner. A handful of the kids demonstrated a comfortable ease twisting and turning about on the surface like river otters. A greater portion of the kids sported big smiles, but simultaneously maintained a clawed, death grip on the pool lip. And finally, a few of the kids approached the water in full-fledged panic, convinced that this day would be their last.

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Members of the Argentine Mininite Church gather for a commissioning service as they bestow their church building to Youthfront.
Uncategorized

Faith for Generations

A historic church with an aging congregation made a generous act of faith recently. And as a result, their gift will allow God’s work to continue in the Argentine neighborhood for generations to come.

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Youth in the Argentine leadership development program brainstorm ideas
YF Neighborhood

Turning Points

By Kurt Rietema I’d spent days writing these stories. I agonized over each sentence. I’d observed how my own kids became engrossed in stories read aloud. So, I analyzed the proper amount of detail given to the nuances of character…

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YF Neighborhood

A Summer to Remember

As a kid, I was a decent enough student that the possibility of summer school was never a real one. Still, the threat of it loomed irrationally large in my mind. Nothing could be worse than to be locked indoors doing time knowing my friends were dallying in the sand and sun while I served my sentence for failing grades.

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