Lujacks of the Quad Cities will award Quad Cities Interfaith the Extra Mile Award in recognition of its work for QCI's Youth Leadership Training program as part of the city of Davenport's Weed and Seed intiative. QCI will be presented a check for $500.00 from Lujack's on Wednesday, September 8th at 2:30 pm at the Friendly House in Davenport.

Lujack's will also film a commercial highlighting the youth of the Weed and Seed Youth Leadership and its work. The funds wil go towards expenses for training and actions the youth are working on.  Congratulations to QCI and the youth leaders of Weed and Seed!

In June 4th editon of the RI Argus, there's was an article about the work of Quad Cities Interfaith and its development of a youth leadership training through the City of Davenport's Weed and Seed grant. Check out this link to read more about the successful youth summit held at the Friendly House in Davenport on May 15th. For more information about getting interested youth involved in leadership training, please contact the QCI office at 563.322.4910.

http://www.qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=495907

QCI leaders traveled to Blue Island, Illinois in April to show support for Gamaliel of Chicago 's Public Meeting on April 21 about racial profiling of the immigrant community by local law enforcement. More than 800 members of the community joined together at St. Benedict's Church to voice their concern about recent incidents involving local law enforcement profiling residients and working with the Immigration and Custons Enforcement agency in targeting the local community.

7 members of the local city council and the Mayor of Blue Island Illinois heard several testimonials from families of people who were targeted because they were immigrants. The Mayor and the council were asked if they would work to pass a resolution declaring Blue Island a fair and equal city for all residents and immigrants. All council persons present agreed to work to pass this within three months. The Mayor was asked to commit to instructing the police chielf to put a temporary hold on assiting ICE unitl the City makes a formal policy on the issue. Mayor Peloqun declined to commit to such a temporary hold so Gamaliel of Chicago leaders have decided to hold prayer vigils at the Blue Isand public building and to collect information about every incident of racial profiling within the community so they may be turned over to local Cook County officials.

Quad Cities Interfaith is pleased to pass on information about an exciting opportunity for local youth to come together and be a force for positive change!

The Davenport Weed and Seed Youth Leadership Group invites local youth to their

Youth Summit
Saturday, May 15 2010
10- am to 1pm
Friendly House -1221 Myrtle Street Davenport
We want to share this with youth ages 13-18 in Davenport to join us for the Summit
Free! Food and Music!

This is hosted by Davenport Weed and Seed Youth Leadership Group, who have been working hard on this event designed to bring about positive change on some of the issues they are concerned about. The event is free and is open to youth ages 13-18 tyears old. Youth from local areas are welcome, but the focus for this summit will be on issues Davenport youth have identified.

Quad Cites Interfaith is a proud partner in the City of Davenport's Weed and Seed grant and has been coordinating and providing leadership training to the 35 youth currently participating.

Recently, the youth had a very productive meeting with the Mayor of Davenport, sharing some concerns they had and some possible solutions. They also got a commitment from Mayor Gluba to join them at the Youth Summit on Saturday, May 15th   --- Great job leaders!

This event will have youth sharing their concerns on issues such as crime and violence, youth being pre judged as problems,and local funding for college with  local public officials who will be asked to join the youth in taking action to bring about solutions.

Its not too late for youth to get involved either, we have another Weed and Seed Youth Leadership meeting on Wednesday May 5th at 3pm in the cafeteria of Central HS.

Please feel free to call QCI for more information about the program or the Youth Summit.


Spread the word and see you at the Weed and seed Youth Summit!

Quad Cities Interfaith is partnering with the City of Davenport on the Weed and Seed Grant awarded to the City. The Weed and Seed Grant is a federal grant that was awarded to Davenport by the U.S. Department of Justice in the fall of 2009. The purpose of this grant is to coordinate resources  and programs within a specific area in Davenport. The target area is River Drive to Locust Street and Farnam to Division Streets.  This is a two part project. The first part is to “weed out” the inappropriate activities using law enforcement and community policing. The second part of the project is to “plant the seeds” to improve the lives of the residents by implementing neighborhood restoration and prevention, intervention and treatment.

      Quad Cities Interfaith is a proud partner in Davenport's Weed and Seed Project and our own Loxi Hopkins is spearheading the Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment Program Committee that is developing and implementing a Youth Leadership Development Training Program for young people within the targeted area. QCI is facilitating leadership training from the Gamaliel Foundation to train youth on the basics of leadership skills as well as faciliate the youth in planning their own Youth Summit. The Youth Summit is May 15th at the Friendly House in which young people will build relationship, identify issues or problems and develop concrete actions they can take to improve their community. If you have a young leaders interested in getting involved, or a group of youth who might want to learn more, contact the QCI office for more information. 563.322.4910.

For more information, please visit www.weedandseeddavenport.org