By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
CHINATOWN — Hundreds of broom-wielding students are expected to descend on Chinatown's notoriously grungy streets this weekend.
The Chinatown Beautification Project, a program started by Chinatown Youth Initiatives following 9/11, will send local youngsters to pick up trash over 30 blocks to show Chinatown’s older generation that young people also care about the future of the community, organizers said.
“We want to make sure that ever corner of Chinatown is getting cleaned,” said program coordinator Lijin Chen, who is entering his senior year at Stuyvesant High School.
He explained that participants will fan out over 15 specific areas of the neighborhood to bag rubbish that often collects in streets from Chinatown’s many restaurants and food markets.
Last year, hundreds of teens from Chinatown and outside neighborhoods participated in the weekend-long event, which also includes a series of workshops geared to the younger Asian community.
Among the events planned for Saturday are workshops focusing on Asian-American history and identity, women’s empowerment, Asian sexuality and a newly added course on environmental awareness.
The organizers explained that the program encourages high schoolers from across the city — including such well-regarded schools as Brooklyn Tech and Bronx Science, which also have a substantial number of Asian students — to attend and learn about certain issues related to Asian self-identity.
For example, the sexuality workshop will serve to both explore and explode myths among the Asian community that they are any different from other culutral groups, said program coordinator Ling Ye, a recent graduate of St. John’s University.
“It’s been a major influence on my own life,” said Ye, a CYI member since 2004, adding that learning how to advocate for her community through the program made her decide to enter law school.
The workshop portion of the event takes place Sat., Aug. 12, at NYU’s Woolworth Building, 223 Broadway, with the cleanup kicking off Sunday at the New York Chinese Community Center, 62 Mott St.
