Emmanuel Serrano Testifies on HAI’s behalf at New York City Budget Hearings

Before I came to HAI, I was in a shelter. I was involved in a gang and I've been locked up before. HAI gave me an alternative in life and opened a door for my life. I got involved in the arts, I've been in a movie -- my brother and me are into music now says HAI peer educator and now youth advocate, Emmanuel Serrano.

This past month Serrano, a three-year veteran Peer Educator turned HAI spokesperson, gave a firsthand account of how HAI's youth programs can make a difference in a young person's life. In his testimony before Council Members from Queens, Serrano brought the voice of HAI's program recipients to the forefront.

I have been in this program for three years now and it has had the biggest impact on my life. HAI helped me, it helped get me out of the streets and got me off into something positive.

The struggles faced by Serrano are those shared by many inner city youth without resources to overcome disparities in educational opportunity and absence of safe-space for positive personal growth. Serrano credits HAI for affording him the opportunity to learn through the arts and develop an alternative to life on the streets. As a recipient of HAI's services, and now as a facilitator through the Peer Education program and youth advocacy efforts, Serrano is proud of his achievements, making positive life changes for himself and his younger brother, and transforming the future for hundreds of youth audiences that attend HAI workshops at high schools throughout the city.