BY VINAYA SAKSENA

CENTRAL FALLS — Community leaders in the city are looking for a few good young men and women.
The local youth-oriented service agency Channel One announced on Thursday that it is organizing a youth summit, in which a group of young people from Central Falls will be given the opportunity to present and discuss ideas intended to improve the quality of life in their small city.

he summit, which will take place at the University of Rhode Island’s campus auditorium in Providence on June 2, also sees the Central Falls School District, Progresso Latino and Children’s Friend and Service helping to make it happen.
Channel One Director Angelo Garcia said he is seeking approximately 60 youths to serve as leaders in the event. He expressed hope that the event would serve as a means to get Central Falls youths directly involved in the search for solutions to problems facing them as they grow up in the city, in the wake of two recent shootings of youths in the city. The idea, he said, came to him while visiting the victims’ family members.
“Seeing firsthand all they went through, one of the things that resonated with me was that (young people) have very little opportunity to express themselves,” Garcia said. “I think we need to give them an opportunity to do that. It’s an opportunity for kids to come together and manifest that.”
Garcia said the summit, which will start at 3:00 p.m., will serve in part to find solutions to the violence and atmosphere of fear that has afflicted the city in recent weeks.
Additionally, he said he hoped it would address some of the negative emotions that students have felt as a result of living in a community that has been stigmatized as a place of violence and crime, a problem he said reared its head in the wake of the shootings.
“It’s very heartbreaking,” he said. “It wasn’t all these kids that pulled the trigger.”
For next month’s summit, Garcia is asking residents and community groups to identify Central Falls youths who would be good candidates for the summit, though he pointed out that available spaces would likely fill up quickly. The selected youths will spend the day before the summit brainstorming ideas with adult leaders for presentation the following day.
“It’s going to be their day,” Garcia said. “It’s going to be their conversations, their ideas. I think it will be a very empowering day for kids.”
Those wishing to refer a young person as a candidate for the summit can contact Channel One by calling (401) 727-7425. The deadline for inquiries is Wednesday, May 21.