In September of 2019, Green Card Youth Voices author Zaynab Abdi and Executive Director Tea Rozman visited all the fours schools and met with all 30 future authors and spoke to the about the book project. This book, just like other previous five volumes, will inspire a more empathetic understanding of immigrants, and showcase the remarkable stories of 30 immigrant and refugee students living in Rochester and Buffalo, New York.
The video narratives, as well as written personal essays that will be compiled and published as a multimedia book; Green Card Youth Voices: Upstate New York High Schools. The students have been prepared with six open-ended questions regarding their experiences, which they will narrate during recordings. The recording transcripts have bee used as the basis for students’ personal essays. Through partnership with Blockport TESOL Master Students, 30 authors will be paired with mentors to help with the editing process as each essay is prepared for publication. The video recordings will be posted to the Green Card Voices website and free and accessible to the public, and each published essay will be accompanied by a link to the student’s video narrative.
This book will be the sixth in the Green Card Youth Voices series, which works to generate awareness about the immigrant experience. The previous titles (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Atlanta, Fargo and Madison & Milwaukee) each feature 30 immigrant youth originally from 45 different countries. Some fled xenophobia, others came to be reunited with family, and all left behind loved ones. These stories show the tremendous resiliency, courage, and unabashed hope these young people maintain as they imagine their futures in this new country. The multimedia publications include QR codes linking to the students’ video narratives, full color portraits, a glossary, and a study guide to help teachers use the book as an educational resource when teaching about immigration. This project is expected to be completed in December of 2020 (e-book launch), with a publication date in December 2020.
Book Includes:
- 30 personal essays of immigrant youth from 16 countries and Puerto Rico
- Full-color portraits
- Links to digital stories on the Green Card Voices Website
- Excerpt from Atc4Change: Green Card Voices Study Guide
- Glossary
- 170+ pages
