B&GC workshop #2

About 15 participants today, but this workshop was a bit of a mess. Very challenging because the kids were a lot less focused and interested than last time. We were not able to do all the things we’d hoped and those we did were not as complete and grounded as we’d hoped. I think Xanthia’s determination is accurate: the repeat kids were ready to go, much more focused. The new kids didn’t all want to be there and we think were told by Jessica that they had to be there. The new kids were unfocused and their energy messed up that of the others too.

We plan to do 2 more workshops. Because we are likely to have new people in the circle each time we cannot really do the cumulative arc we’d been thinking of for these workshops.

Be Great

We're leading one workshop a week for 4 weeks with teens at the Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley.

Workshop #1. Eleven participants plus staff member Jessica observed a lot of the workshop. One activity we did together was writing and sharing Your Five Senses of Pacoima.

What I See in Pacoima

Gangs, Cars, Girls, Gang violence, Football, Schools, Stores, House, Graffiti, Boys and Girls Club,Homeless People, Minority Races, McDonalds, Burger King, Park, Tagging, Cop, People, Girls and Boys

What I Hear in Pacoima

Shooting, Helicopter, Cops, Dogs, Airplanes, People, Gunshots, Sirens, Car horns honking, Laughter, Police, Music, Tree, Quiet, Wind

What I Smell in Pacoima

Crap, Gas, Weed, Me, Food, Flowers, Marijuana, McDonald’s, Trevon’s cologne, Pizza,

Trash, L.’s farts, Paint (from tagging), Car exhausts, Perfume, Roses, Pasta, Smoke, Clean air

What I Taste in Pacoima

McDonald’s, Hot candy, Apples, Grapes, Candy, Soda, Sopes, Tacos y tortas, Subway, Chips, Ice Tea, Gum, Milk, Air, Water, Burgers, Gatorade

What I Touch in Pacoima

Paper, Pencil, Sports, Brush, Door, Desk, Computers, Remotes, Basketball,
Cell phone, girlfriend, Schoolbooks, Food, Doorknob, Friends, Backpack, Chairs, Bed, House, Game, a football, and my dog

When we asked the teenagers for their Pacoima songs/soundtrack these are some of their suggestions:

To Live and Die in LA (2Pac)

They Roll (Nispey Hussle)

The Ghetto (Akon)

Hometown Glory (Adele)

(at the beginning of this video i thought it might be filmed in Pacoima because of the industrial shapes of the background neighborhood)

It Was A Good Day (Ice Cube)

California Love (2Pac)

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.