Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Impacting a Generation, Community, City and Nation: The Joshua Project Story so Far
    Impacting a Generation, Community, City and Nation: The Joshua Project Story so Far
    Impacting a Generation, Community, City and Nation: The Joshua Project Story so Far
    Ebook114 pages1 hour

    Impacting a Generation, Community, City and Nation: The Joshua Project Story so Far

    By The Joshua Project

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Young life. Why do you carry guns and why do you carry the knife? Walking the streets now in your crew, getting stopped by boys in blue. Fighting and crime, thats all you see. Youre not even safe in your own community.
    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXlibris UK
    Release dateSep 7, 2010
    ISBN9781453569566
    Impacting a Generation, Community, City and Nation: The Joshua Project Story so Far

    Related to Impacting a Generation, Community, City and Nation

    Related ebooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Kidsin America

      Aug 15, 2023

      The Kidsin America
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Voice For Change

      Jul 24, 2020

      A Voice For Change
      6 min read

    • Article

      Author Ladee Hubbard On Love, Family And Resilience

      Mar 22, 2022

      Ladee Hubbard, author of the short story collection The Last Suspicious Holdout, talks about love, family, resilience and grief in the Black community.

      5 min read

    • Article

      We Need To Prioritise Unity

      Oct 23, 2023

      Oliver Jeffers explores the biggest issues in an affectingly simple and sensitive way. The Northern Irish born, New York-based children’s author and visual artist – and Christmas Kids Cover Competition judge – has a unique way of capturing the essenc

      3 min read

    • Article

      It Takes Blood And Guts

      Nov 21, 2020

      I’m sitting on Skin’s terrace in Ibiza, soaking up the late summer sunshine via the magic of the internet. It’s the closest I’ve come to travel since the start of the panny danny and looking out my window at the dark Edinburgh sky, I’ll take all the

      6 min read

    • Article

      10 Questions With…

      Jun 5, 2022

      10 Questions With…
      4 min read

    • Article

      Rachel Heng Embraces Contradiction

      Apr 21, 2023

      "It's the beauty of fiction that you are able to hold these contradictions in one place." The post Rachel Heng Embraces Contradiction appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Jenny Bhatt

      Dec 14, 2020

      For 2020, given what I had imagined the year would entail, my word-of-the-year choice had been “renewal.” The post A Year in Reading: Jenny Bhatt appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    • Article

      SETTING Part One

      Apr 4, 2024

      SETTING Part One
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Jonathan Escoffery

      Dec 15, 2021

      This year, perhaps more than any other in my adult life, I’ve yearned for narratives that promise big things will happen in the lives of the characters they feature. The post A Year in Reading: Jonathan Escoffery appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Writing the Jersey Shore: The Millions Interviews Daniel H. Turtel

      Apr 8, 2022

      I’m hoping that some of the moral questions posed don’t just ruffle feathers, but actually get people thinking about some difficult questions. The post Writing the Jersey Shore: The Millions Interviews Daniel H. Turtel appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      My Countryside Childhood

      May 24, 2022

      My Countryside Childhood
      4 min read

    • Article

      'Queer Eye's' Tan France Faced Racism As A Kid. Then He Brushed Off Bullies And Discovered Self-love

      Jul 24, 2019

      You might know him from the French tuck or his distinctive hair. But "Queer Eye's" fashion guru Tan France wants fans to get to know him beyond the surface. His new book, "Naturally Tan," provides a deeper look at the English designer's life. "I want

      7 min read

    • Article

      Talk To The Practitioner: Jane Park

      Jan 29, 2022

      I met Jane Park during a children’s literature happy hour over Zoom. In one of the breakout rooms, she mentioned that her latest picture book, Juna and Appa, was coming out in 2022. It’ll be her second publication with Lee & Low publishers, and her f

      8 min read

    • Article

      Laura Linney.

      Jun 4, 2019

      Laura Linney.
      4 min read

    • Article

      She’s A Star

      Apr 20, 2020

      She’s A Star
      5 min read

    • Article

      Krystal Lake

      Mar 24, 2023

      Krystal Lake
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Impacting a Generation, Community, City and Nation

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      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

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1