First United Methodist of Pacoima

Last night Xanthia and I made a presentation to the board of First United Methodist Church in Pacoima (12550 Van Nuys Blvd,, 91331) They are the property owners for the Discovery Charter School campus and we are seeking their approval for us to use the school for our I-7 living facilities. I had one of those amazing experiences that make me feel astonished and hopeful and grateful.

Based on the conversations I’ve had with the school, how our invitation/process for last night’s meeting, and maybe from the church’s website, I was far from optimistic about the meeting. We’d been allotted 10 minutes and it seemed like the board might not have any idea who we were at all. I was expecting them to be conservative and uninterested.

Instead everyone was very approachable and welcoming. We met Reggie, who serves as the primary liaison with the school, Darrell, and Rev. Wilson. There were about six other board members there, one of whom remembered our 1993 play in Pacoima. Everyone looked like they had come together from their busy lives to take care of the business of their church as they do once a month. We were introduced briefly. I explained in minimal terms who we are, what we do and our plans for a community play in Pacoima. I made the request to use the facilities of the school for our living space. I invited them to participate in the project with regard to story circles, etc, no matter what the outcome of our request to use the school.

Rev. Wilson asked a few specific questions. He asked if someone from Cornerstone would be able to come to service to tell the congregation about the project and I told him that it would be our dream to do so and to include the congregation in the project as much as they’d want to be involved. So this is all very exciting and positive. It’s exciting too, because First United Methodist Church of Pacoima seems to be a primarily African American parish and that is a part of the community we haven’t met with yet. (Decades ago Pacoima residents were mostly African- Americans, but is now 86% Latino & about 7% Black.)

It seemed as though they’d discuss the situation at the meeting, and probably take some time to consider it. We were not specific about next steps but it does seem possible that we could arrange for our housing to be at Discovery Prep, which could be really great.

-pd

a few suggestions from our friend Delores C

Tia Chuchas in Sylmar would be a great partner for us because they have a lot of credibility within the community. It’s one of the beacons for arts & culture in the NE valley communities, like Mission College.

Dolores is working with Luis & Trini Rodriguez (of Tia Chuchas) on the Neighborhood Arts Policy, meetings all over Los Angeles, with arts community, to shape this policy.

Sylmar characteristics: more white, equestrian, foothills, connected to Hansen Dam Park and recreation activites there.

Porous borders between communities (Pacas, Sylmar, Lakeview Terrace, San Fernando, etc) because not all needs are met in each one.

Looking for Housing: Discovery, pt 1

Met with Sheryl S, at Discovery Prep. She showed us the campus facilities which could work for us though there are a couple of challenges we’d have to plan for—one is easier than the other.

The school has 18 classrooms, a great kitchen (provided that the stove and oven work, which we think they do), and an adjacent good size room that could serve as an Institute dining room and classroom or common room. There are two options for where we could set up outdoor showers. It’s all very cozy and workable.

Youth Speak Collective an organization that has agreed to be a community partner on our project is also a partner of Discovery Prep and they have a dedicated room on the campus.

The two challenges are the shower situation (easy) and this:

The First United Methodist Church of Pacoima owns the school’s facilities. The Church would need to approve our use of the school property. Also the Church uses the kitchen and dining hall on Sundays. Also the Church recently told the school to close and vacate the premises with relatively short notice for the funeral of a prominent community member. The relationship between the school and the church as landlord sounds like it's been a tricky one and experienced some unfortunate difficulty when the school was under previous leadership. The current school leaders are striving to rebuild positive cooperative relationships.

One other question is that the kitchen is not up to code. I am not sure exactly what this means, but I think as long as it is safe it doesn’t need to be up to code for our purposes, only for official purposes like feeding students or a paying public. Sheryl is less convinced than I that our project doesn’t need to pass the kitchen code test and will look into what the guidelines are.

Next steps: Sheryl will talk with the church to suss out the chances for approval for our project. If it signs are good then we’ll try to arrange a meeting and/or a presentation for the church’s board. It could be great to feature the church congregation as one of the community groups represented in the project, as well as the school’s residential neighbors which include a trailer park.

We should definitely continue pursuing housing at other schools.

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

Pacoima Hey!

Cornerstone’s 2010 Institute Summer Residency will take place in Pacoima, a neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles.

Pacoima is a multi-cultural, working class community located in the northeast San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. Adjacent to the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and nestled between 3 freeways, Pacoima is about 7 square miles with a population of approximately 80,000. That population includes many families and a lot kids. Even with youth-focused organizations offering resources, gang involvement, violence, and a high drop-out rate are some of the challenges local kids and their families face. Pacoima has industrial and residential properties mixed together which leads to a number of environmental and health challenges for the residents. There is a strong force of civic pride in Pacoima. People work hard and the community cares deeply for its youth. Residents are largely bi-lingual with some monolingual Spanish speakers as well.

In 1993 Cornerstone collaborated with residents in Pacoima to produce a our second Los Angeles community production: a new play called Rushing Waters. It was written by Migdalia Cruz and directed by Bill Rauch. The play was performed at The Boys and Girls Club of San Fernando and featured a cast of 45 actors and musicians.

We're happy to be working with the Boys & Girls Club again many years later. We are gathering support and making connections with other community organizations. We'll be reaching out to see if we can find participants from our previous project. I hope they might come meet us for a story circle and consider giving theater another try.

Cornerstone Ensemble member Sigrid Gilmer is in process with story circles and interviews, getting ready to write the script for this project.