ReCreate Arta Lao Family Youth Program

Funding for this project was provided by the Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board through Community POWER:

Partners on Waste Education and Reduction.

Passages After School Program

ReCreate ArtThrough online research, field trips, and creative projects, Hmong youth will discover how disposal of household waste and toxic substances affects the parks, lakes, rivers, and woods that they and their families enjoy. They will change their own behaviors and convince their friends and families to change.

Community Background

As a former refugee group, the Hmong:

• Came from a culture of survival, some as recent at 5-7 yrs ago

• Strong lifestyle traditions already in place• Community still identified as low income,

change comes hard

Living in Laos

Living in Minnesota

3 Focus Areas

1. Reuse and Reduce2. Recycling3. Hazardous Household Wastes

Community Focus group for feedback.

Focus Area #1 - Reuse and Reduce

We Found Out1. Hmong are great at reusing!

- From a culture of reusing useful goods- Very value conscious

2. Reducing is a challenge- Didn’t have much in the first place, more sounds better- Large families collecting, hoarding

Focus Area #2 - Recycling

We Found Out1. Positive reinforcement

- Follow successful footsteps of others- Community reinforcement

Focus Area #3 – Hazardous Household Waste Removal

We Found Out1. What?

- This was a foreign concept, no general concern- Keeping and holding on to important goods like

cleaners, gasoline, paints- Families were open to change

Rethink Recycling Curriculum

Giving content to our media and art programs.

1. Based off information we gathered through evaluation questions.- U1, U2, U3, U4, T1, R1, R2

2. Curriculum was a guide for students to find answers online.

3. Activity assigned to each eval question

Program Numbers

- 51 students participated in the program- 41 completed the Rethink Recycling curriculum

- Of these, Thirty-five (35) of the 41 students (85%) who completed the survey said, “yes” they made positive changes in behavior towards reducing waste, recycling or managing toxic waste has due to their participation in this program.

- The others answered that they were already doing it.

Program Numbers

- 38 students responded with pledges saying they were willing to make two waste/toxicity reduction changes in their own lives

- 25 parents signed these pledges to adopt new practices at home and keep their kids accountable for these life changes

- 27 students participated in creating an art project based on reusable materials gathered from the community

Thank You!

ReCreate Art – Passages After School ProgramLao Family Community of MN1299 Arcade St., MN 55106

Vern Xiong – Youth & Family Program Mngrvxiong@laofamily.org

Kia Kehrer – Youth Program Outreachkkehrer@laofamily.org