Urban Dreams hosts Summer on Sixth event, teaching youth leadership skills

DES MOINES, Iowa — It’s an opportunity for Urban Dreams summer youth dream team to learn important skills by hosting summer events.

Urban Dreams Summer on Sixth is a weekly event hosted by teens, with the goal of teaching the youth how to become doers and foster community where they feel valued, supported, and empowered.

These kids, ages 14 and up work on team bonding, leadership, and hard work. They start out small at the beginning of the summer, mostly observing, but by they end they are running the whole show and growing from the program.

“By the end of the summer, they’re setting up and tearing down, they’re serving and doing everything on their own. In the beginning, we really held their hand and helped them through the process, but at the end, it’s all their show. So they’re learning all things like how to run a community event and leadership,” said Izaah Knox, executive director of Urban Dreams.

“It gives you a work experience before you’re old enough to get a real job. I mean, it is a real job but like, a big corporation where you can get promoted, it gives you the experience so you can know what to be expecting in the future,” said Salahudin Waldrip, Summer Youth Dream Team employee.

The kids served food like hot dogs, cotton candy, and nachos while running karaoke for the community to enjoy.

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