December Meetings

In early December, Sigrid Gilmer and I met with David Kietzman and Mayra Esparza at Youth Speak Collective in Pacoima. David is the Executive Director & Co-Founder and Mayra is the Youth Services Coordinator. Marya is also a lifetime resident of Pacoima.

“Founded in 2005, Youth Speak Collective is a non-profit organization that empowers low-income, at-risk youth and their familes with the skills necessary to pursue higher education and create strong communities in the northeast San Fernando Valley. YSC has a youth-driven model: youth act as planners and stakeholders in all our programs while developing education and professional skills.”

David and Mayra enthusiastically support our project in Pacoima and want Youth Speak to help in whatever way they can. We talked about recommendations of any of the youth they work with who might be a good candidate to assist us in the story circle process as a translator and/or participate in some dramaturgical conversations. They are also giving some thought to a possible Institute Student from/in Pacoima. We’re planning to have a story circle with their Youth Council and another with a group called Speak Up.

David and Mayra shared some information with us about their organization and the community of Pacoima.

Pacoima shares a zip code with Arleta, the neighborhood to the west, but Arleta might be defined as more residential less business/industrial than Pacoima. Other neighboring communities are Sun Valley (south), Sylmar (east) and the city of San Fernando (north). Pacoima is uniquely mixed residential and not just business but industry. Mayra says there are 40 different gangs in Pacoima and so there is a complicated system of invisible boundaries that area youth contend with. The neighborhood looks very different at night than during the day.

We talked briefly about some venue possibilities. One intriguing idea is Humphrey Park- performing the play on the walled in soccer field or on the handball court there. Humphrey Park is part of the Summer Nights Lights program, which means that during the summer the park lights are on until midnight and there is security provided at the park.

Also in early December, David Guerra met with Xanthia and me. David is an actor and organizer. He’s been working as the Outreach Coordinator for a series of Unusual Suspects projects (in partnership with El Nido & GRYD- Gang Reduction Youth Development) in Pacoima. In fact they are doing a theater project with parents who live in San Fernando Gardens housing project, directed by Daniel Chacon (past participant in at least 2 big Cornerstone projects). That show is performing on 12/7 at 7pm at Pacoima Charter School and at noon on 12/9 at San Fernando High School. They also have a staged reading of youth written and performed project at 2pm on 12/12 at the Youth Community Center.

David G. characterized Pacoima for us as working class and proud of that. They struggle with poverty and gangs, but they are much more than that. A lot of people are engaged and hungry for knowledge. They want self-made art. The community is bi-lingual and a lot of participants he worked with really enjoyed the opportunities to just chat in Spanish with company members. “A colloquial approach can be helpful.” He recommended some people and organizations for us to contact.

A slightly left-field note: folklorist Bess Lomax Hawes passed away recently which brought to our attention a film she made of Pacoima girls singing schoolyard song/games. It’s called Pizza Pizza Daddy-O and is fantastic to see and hear:

-pd