12 April 2014, PENNSYLVANIA- Pittsburgh

AFSC pittsburgh pic 1
AFSC pittsburgh pic 3
AFSC pittsburgh pic 2

Four of the youth from the American Friends Service Committee PA Program (AFSC) went to Washington DC to be part of the “If I Had a Trillion Dollars (IHTD)” film festival. Youth groups around the country submit three minute video’s on how they would spend the trillion dollars that have been spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Youth groups who submitted the winning videos had the opportunity to go to DC to be part of the festival, to lobby their legislators on their concerns and be part of the final action. Over the years four years of the IHTD festival over 800 videos have been submitted.  This year 71 youth went to DC to be part of the festival.

 The video the Pittsburgh youth submitted was called “The Trillion Dollar Tree” and focused on education, the environment and youth empowerment which were the issues they raised with Senator Casey and Toomey’s aides. Watch here : http://www.afsc.org/video/trillion-dollar-tree.

On the Monday before tax day they all congregated at Farragut Square and the youth laid out seven fighter jets they had made and decorated out of foam board. In the background were signs reading “Move the Money” and as everyone shouted for the money to be moved the youth rushed in and converted the fighter jets to buildings. The buildings represented the things they would spend the money on such as schools, garden, hospitals, etc.