Duquesne Community Garden Clean-Up and Bulb Planting

This past Saturday, Nov. 20, KEYS AmeriCorps members and a few, hardworking volunteers from Duquesne and elsewhere got together to get the Duquesne Community Garden ready for the winter.

We pulled out all of the dead plants, covered the empty beds with straw, turned the compost in preparation for using it come springtime, and planted tulip and daffodil bulbs. We pulled out the drooping sunflowers from along the brick wall. The seeds from the sunflower heads (see picture) will be used to bring us new sunflowers next season. Still, many different varieties of greens remain in their beds, as they are able to survive the cold temperatures.

Thank you to everyone who came to help out!

If you are interested in DYEP volunteer activities, please check back here, join the DYEP facebook group, or email Jessica.Schmid@alleghenycounty.us for information.

DYEP School Year Activities

Beginning October 25th, the DYEP will be bringing on two full year AmeriCorps members to continue our programming during the school year. The members will be based at the Duquesne/West Mifflin Boys and Girls Club on 3rd Street during after-school hours, from 3-6 pm, Monday through Thursday. They will be offering tutoring sessions, homework help, assistance in searching for jobs or filling our job applications, etc.

Additionally, these members will be working to plan various DYEP events: college visits, volunteer days in the garden, field trips, etc. If you're interested in helping to plan any of these events, either contact Jessi or stop by the Boys and Girls Club to meet the new members.

Duquesne community garden still going strong

Here is a recent photo of the DYEP's Duquesne Community Garden. There is still plenty of food to be harvested by anyone who is interested: tomatoes, peppers, all sorts of greens, beets, herbs, squash, etc.

Last Day at DYEP

Pictured above is the staff and youth of DYEP. Thanks to the Christ Lutheran Church on Fourth and Kennedy in Duquesne for sharing their space to all of us.

Today is the last day for youth working with the Duquesne Youth Employment Program. A talent show is being held, along with a cookout and games to wrap up the program for the summer.

Service Learning with Seniors

Youth Make Homemade Pierogies in Cooking Workshop

The DYEP youth made three batches of homemade pierogies on Thursday, the 22nd, in their weekly cooking session.

Making the pierogies from scratch, youth rolled out the dough and put in a potato, cheese and onion filling as well as a spinach, mushroom, Swiss cheese and onion filling. Teams also prepared homemade strawberry ice cream on the 22nd, rounding out a decadent meal.

Youth have created impressive meals in the kitchen in recent weeks, such as burritos with homemade salsa and Spanish rice, baked curry mustard chicken, fruit smoothies, apple crisp, watermelon and tomato salad, and black-eyed peas and kale "soul" stew.

And what do the budding chefs and gardeners have in store for you in the up and coming? This Friday the DYEP will be hosting a bake sale and a car wash as fundraisers. Baked goods, prepared by youth, will be on sale at the Christ Lutheran Church and around the community, and youth and staff will be washing cars throughout the day at the church at the corner of 4th and Kennedy, for $5.

DYEP Gets Some Help in the Garden

Middle-schoolers from the Duquesne/West Mifflin Boys and Girls Club's summer program came to work alongside DYEP youth in the community garden at the corner of Grant Avenue and First Street.

They planted bean seeds next to the corn. The bean vines will eventually wind their way up the corn stalks.

The young volunteers thoroughly watered the veggies and the newly-planted seeds.

Personal Narrative

I was given a bunch of topics to choose from but this one caught my attention the most, hope you feel the same way too if you read on.

The issue of teen pregnancy is a very interesting topic but here are my feelings about this issue.

If I was to have a friend that happened to get pregnant I would help her the best I could. Friendship does not change, even if there is something about to come in this world that might take a little time away from the stuff we used to do together.

If I was to get pregnant I don’t know what I would do, I would be so scared that I would not tell anyone about my pregnancy.

Do you think that girls that get pregnant between the ages 12 and 18 are nasty? Some would say yes but I would say that it depends on how she carries herself and she has to know who the baby’s father is. I also think that girls get pregnant because they want the attention they don’t have or get.

I know that teens can go to schools until they are about 32 weeks pregnant. These teens can decide to drop out after they have their baby or when the next school year comes around they can go back and finish. They also get 2 or 3 months off of school to take care of their baby. They also can have online classes (but they cost a lot of money) or a teacher come to your home.

Look for the full story on teen pregnancy in the DYEP’s upcoming newspaper issue.

Blog written by Shyann Haten☺

Field Trip to Oakland

On Friday the whole program took the city buses over to Oakland to explore the college campuses and see some of the sights, such as the Carnegie museums and the Schenley Park pool. For the first time this summer, we enjoyed a break from the normal workshop structure and team divisions.

Making Pizza!

The youth made some delicious pizza during the gardening workshop made from scratch. These pictures show how much fun they had doing it.





Pictured are the members of Team Orange.

Thursday discussions

We had a long discussion in each media workshop yesterday.

We tackled tough questions:

• What does it mean to be a man?
• Who holds more responsibility in a teen pregnancy, the mother or the father?
• Does the media make violence worse?

Everyone had a lot to say. Listening to the youth talk about their experiences with these issues--especially violence, teen pregnancy, and gender identity--was humbling and revealing. These youth have experienced things that many people will probably never see. I know everyone has more to say.

-Trevor a.ka. Tractor

Mach Front Page Headlines

One of the workshops, Team Orange, designed these cover pages after talking to Duquesne residents about food, business, and the lack of a high school.

By Jay

By Shyann & Eric

(Team Orange)

Interviewing People of Duquesne

The community lost its pride because it lost its basketball team and football team but some people are happy because it opens up more opportunities for the students. But then there is people that say if the high school opens back up they would not go back because of the more actives the East Allegheny and West Mifflin has to offer.
David & Polly

We interviewed some people in Duquesne yesterday to find out where they get their food. The interviews turned out to be good. However when we approached the construction worker he walked away and was rude. Most people we asked either get their giant eagle or Walmart. Other stores are shop n save, Sams Club,and Foodland.
TYLER & ALISSA

The Squids Coffee Shop has been established since September 6, 1996. The owner thinks its hard to run a business in duquesne. A customer said they came to the Coffee Shop because they need coffee a few years back & the Coffee Shop was the only store open. They customer said they stay because of the friendly service. The customer also wished there was a a K-Mart in duquesne.
Keyosha, Cheteishia

Pictured are "The Certified Goonz" (Team Yellow)

First Post

Read the "About DYEP" page to learn more about the Duquesne Youth Employment program. This blog will showcase completed work of local high school aged youth during the summer of 2010.