Impacting a Generation, Community, City and Nation: The Joshua Project Story so Far
()
About this ebook
Fighting in school got me kicked out, now Im on the streets dossing about. Getting in trouble and getting in strife finding some things to do with my life. Getting stopped and getting chased, oh my gosh now what a waste
Walking on the streets I get pulled by a car. If you have a life like me you wont go far. Dave (15)
Hope is rising within a generation I our community here in urban west Bradford. That hope shines out from the pages of this book. It is a hope that is giving young people the drive to achieve their dreams, to battle against circumstance so that they might impact their community, city and nation. The Joshua Project is a community organisation that is helping to welcome in this hope breakthrough by innovating inspirational reponses to the needs that young people in this area present. Dave (who wrote the rap above) has experienced that hope. Daves story is one of the many stories that is briefly spotlighted in this book, but there are many more. These stories have the power to turn your life upside down, they have the power to bring floods of tears to your eyes. Thats the health warning, now turn to the first page and enjoy.
Related to Impacting a Generation, Community, City and Nation
Related ebooks
A Vision for Humanity Moving Mankind in the Right Direction: A Book of Hope and Inspiration Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSharing Our Journeys 2 (Queer BIPOC Elders Tell Their Stories) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Vision for Humanity: Moving Mankind in the Right Direction, Rev. 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Live in the City Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5World Changers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComing Face II Face with Myself Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNEW FABULISTS: InterNova Vol. 3 • 2023 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGet Up! Stand Up!: Personal journeys towards social justice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSELF The Vast World Behind Your Words Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSearch Engines: Seek Find Unite Grow Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Win Friends and Influence Others Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYou Can't Push A String Up A HIll Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiving Gay Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCommunity: Whose Responsibility Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhatever Next?: On Adult Adoptee Identities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBarbara and My Boys: Life Stories of Change, Community and Purpose. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlmost Famous Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrushed!: Navigating Africa’S Tortuous Quest for Development – Myths and Realities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Perfect Likeness: Two Novellas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHook of Hope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Golden Sun Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoor Mom Rich Neighbour Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Journey to Bring Back Play Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLittle Lady: A Red Strings of Faith Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEarly Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe World in One Square Mile Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlease Don't Feed the Bears: A Heavy Metal Vegan Cookbook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsServing People & Planet: In Mystery, Love and Gratitude Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe First Time: True Tales of Virginity Lost and Found Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMirror, Mirror: How narrative and storytelling shapes our lives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Biography & Memoir For You
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Taste: My Life Through Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mommie Dearest Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Rediscovered Books): A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Reacher Reading Order: The Complete Lee Child’s Reading List Of Jack Reacher Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5People, Places, Things: My Human Landmarks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Solace of Open Spaces: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Impacting a Generation, Community, City and Nation
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Impacting a Generation, Community, City and Nation - The Joshua Project
Copyright © 2010 by The Joshua Project.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010913012
ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-4535-6955-9
ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4535-6954-2
ISBN: Ebook 978-1-4535-6956-6
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior permission of The Joshua Project LTD. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
The Joshua Project, My Impact Centre, Cross Lane, Bradford, BD7 3JT, UK
Web: www.joshuaproject.org.uk email: info@joshuaproject.org.uk
This book was printed in the United States of America.
To order additional copies of this book, contact:
Xlibris Corporation
0-800-644-6988
www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk
orders@xlibrispublishing.co.uk
300896
CONTENTS
Foreword
Chapter One
Impacting a generation, community, city and nation
Chapter Two
The Streets
Chapter Three
Journeys and Seasons
Chapter Four
All In A Year’s Work
Chapter Five
In Our Own Words
Chapter Six
There’s no place like home
Chapter Seven
Rags to Kingdom Riches
Chapter Eight
Terrible Twos
Chapter Nine
Street life to transformed life
Chapter Ten
So what now?
This book is dedicated to the young people of Great Horton, Little Horton and Lidget Green in Bradford. Our inspiration.
FOREWORD
I ALWAYS SKIP this part of a book!
The fancy cover graphic, catchy blurb or raving review is generally enough to make me want to flick through the movie-trailer-like Foreword to the box office hit itself. Forewords too are often written by a celebrity, big name or ‘expert’ in the field. I think to myself if I wanted to read what the author of the Foreword has to say I would’ve bought their book instead
! So I skip on to Chapter One.
Well, the wonderful thing about this book is that you could start at any chapter! You can start at the beginning, middle or end. Each chapter stands alone in its own right. This short Foreword will give you an idea of what to expect, though!
The book is a collection of stories pulled together to bring to life the journey we have been on so far with The Joshua Project, working with the young people of our communities here in west Bradford’s inner city. Those who have contributed to this work with their own unique stories and reflections have all been part of our journey. Each story is different, reflecting the diverse impact that the Project is having on the communities and people we seek to serve. They’re personal stories, so we’ve provided the first name of each contributor. But these are the stories of the many and not the few, so we’ve left the author information at that. Also, in order to protect the young people we work with, we have changed the names in stories that involve young people. We also only refer to them using first names. Indeed, a number of the contributors are young people.
We’ve set out to be down to earth and honest. We’ve deliberately written in plain English without any sentence-extending jargon. Not all of the stories told have a conclusion because we’re still on the journey. Some of the stories don’t have a happy ending because we’re still trying to work out what that could be. They’re also unashamedly local stories. We’re proud to be here in Great Horton, Little Horton and Lidget Green. We have no desire to extend our work wider. We only want to go deeper and have more impact where we are. That wider work across our cities and nation is for others and I hope it will include you, our readers. Together, the impact on our cities and nations will be massive.
Part of the earthiness of this book is the language we have chosen to reflect. There’s strong language from the start and we have chosen not to *** it out. Not everyone around here swears. At The Joshua Project, we explicitly discourage swearing. But it is nonetheless part and parcel of life for many around here and to block it out would somehow sanitise the stories in a way we have otherwise decided specifically not to. If that offends you, read no further. We have no desire to be gratuitous rather than offend. But those who are offended by the language would likely be offended too if they visited us here. And we want people to visit as they turn these pages too. Don’t let this make you over-excited though—there are only five ‘occurrences’!
The chapters are written by people who right now are getting their hands dirty. The stories they share are real. A community is being transformed and it’s a rising generation of young people that are leading the way. The authors of each chapter in this book have themselves been permanently changed by their experiences. So if you make it to the end of this book without being affected yourself then I’d love to meet with you and show you first hand the impact this Project is having here. But if you are impacted—and I feel sure you will be—then take the opportunity provided in the final chapter to respond to what you have read.
I’m proud of this book. I invite you to join me on a journey that will impact a generation, community, city and nation.
Enjoy!
Rich Jones—Joshua Project Founder and Director
CHAPTER ONE
Impacting a generation, community, city and nation
Rich
URBAN LIVING IS always looked upon through lenses that see everything in various shades of black. Contemporary graphic designers illustrate the word ‘urban’ using silhouette images of high-rise buildings or deserted streets. In their minds, the only way to bring this bleak picture to life is by scrawling graffiti across the cityscape.
Bradford is an urban situation that has been painted in such a way. The industrial revolution has taken its toll on the buildings that rise up out of the valleys, blackened by pollution and in many cases now derelict. The buildings in this city concur with the graphic designers’ ideal cityscape. But, below the tall buildings, the streets are teeming with colour and vibrate with the buzz of activity. In spite of all this activity and colour, people still find themselves in dark and hopeless situations. These communities of colour and activity are crippled by circumstance and find themselves spiraling through a cycle of poverty. A generation is rising without hope, living in fear. Their aspirations are crushed by circumstance.
There is an antidote to this colourless existence. It involves sacrifice and will only happen one person at a time, but streams can flow in the desert allowing life to burst forth.
This book is a collaborative work that includes ‘life stories’ from those who have committed themselves to rolling up their sleeves to get stuck in with the life-changing work that will encourage the colour back into this cityscape. The keys to the future of our community, city and nation lie in the hands of a rising generation of young people; investing in our future has to include investing in their lives. This book is written by those involved in a project that is doing just that. It’s called ‘The Joshua Project’.
I wonder what you want to be when you grow up? Maybe you’ve