The 28th Annual Westcott Street Fair took place Sunday, September 21, 2019. The street fair is a celebration of the diversity of cultures within the Syracuse community.
Many non-profit organizations were also in attendance at the street fair. One of those organizations was Roots Uplifted Inc. This grassroots organization is a youth education and cultural awareness program that teaches children in the Syracuse community primarily about the African Diaspora and African culture. The organization started educating young people in 2001. As a way to help them explore these cultures, Roots Uplifted gives their students the opportunity to travel abroad to different countries in Africa such as Ghana.
The chance for the youth to travel across the World to another continent is how this organization is able expose young people of color to a truth they have yet to uncover.
Valerie Scottfrey, an educator for Roots Uplifted and a Syracuse University alumna, said they are able to explore the cultures of the countries they visit.
“We explore the foods, the languages [and] we try to find the people who are representative of those places,” explained Scottfrey.
There aren’t many non-profit organizations that are capable of bringing high school students abroad to another continent and can travel with them to different countries within that continent. Not even many public schools are able to do this. Which is why Scottfrey believes this organization is so important to the youth. She said the exposure to culture such as the African Diaspora is necessary for them and the generations to come.
“They need to know because they don’t, they need to know because their parents don’t. If you want something to have a long-lasting effect, teach it to the youth,” she said.
