4th Annual U.N. Youth Summit gets a Chelsea send-off

Left to right: Charles Fisher, chairman and founder of the Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council, poses at the Chelsea club Fusion recently, along with Chuleky Nwachukwu, vice president of the Change Makers group in Nigeria; Chidera Ezekwesili, also from Nigeria; and Randy Fisher, executive director of the Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council.

By Jefferson Siegel

The 4th Annual United Nations Youth Summit came to town this month, and the Chelsea-based Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council helped celebrate the event that brought more than 700 young people from 192 countries to the U.N. to discuss youth and world issues.

Chuleky Nwachukwu, 18, from Nigeria, was one of the young people hoping to make the youth of his country more socially conscious through the use of popular music. Nwachukwu is vice-president of the Change Makers group in Nigeria.

“We’ve been going about ways to cut down, slow down poverty,” he said at a send-off party at the Chelsea club Fusion on West 28th Street last Wednesday evening. Of the educational summit he participated in, Nwachukwu said, “It’s been a good experience for us to learn how to stop HIV/AIDS.”

His colleague, Chidera Ezekwesili, 18, also from Nigeria, echoed the sentiment. “We’re going to make a difference in Nigeria, in the world,” he said.

Randy Fisher, executive director of the Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council, stood outside the club watching young people arrive from a dinner at the U.N. “We use hip-hop to socially and economically empower youth,” he explained.

His father, Charles Fisher, the chairman & founder of the Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council, said, “We believe hip-hop is the greatest cultural phenomenom ever created because it transcends race, religion, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. It’s a lifestyle of choice for a majority of young people worldwide.”With the support of record labels, artists and management companies, Fisher’s group looks forward to launching the “Millennium Development Campaign,” a series of positive initiatives aimed at young people worldwide.