FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 15, 2003
Julie Levak, Director of External Affairs, California Council for the Humanities
(415) 391-1474
jlevak@calhum.org
SAN FRANCISCO — May 15, 2003 -- The California Council for the Humanities today launched Communities Speak, 10 groundbreaking projects under its California Stories initiative that will engage a broad range of people in story-based activities designed to strengthen communities. The 10 projects will take place in different California communities over the next two to three years and will address a variety of pressing community issues, including affordable housing, environmental degradation, ethnic and generational tensions, and longstanding unemployment.
Communities Speak is the second phase of California Stories, the Council's multiyear effort to tell the story of today's California. California Stories began in 2002 with "Reading the Grapes of Wrath," an unprecedented reading and story-sharing program that brought together tens of thousands of Californians in hundreds of venues across the state to read the same book and discuss their own California experiences.
"These Communities Speak projects strengthen their respective communities by bringing people together across ethnic, cultural and generational lines to share stories and find common ground for addressing local concerns," said Jim Quay, executive director of the California Council for the Humanities. "Story-sharing on a community-wide level is not just a 'feel good' activity. We have found that when people tell their stories and other people listen, a trust develops that can change community dynamics and lay the groundwork for solving pressing issues," Quay said. "But typically people don't have occasions for sharing stories on a community-wide level despite the need for this in such a highly diverse state as California. It's the missing link in community development, and Communities Speak fills that void."
The Communities Speak projects will collect stories and engage communities in a variety of ways, including photographs, town hall meetings, art exhibits, stage productions and Web sites. "We think that the projects will contribute to a rich narrative of contemporary California and give voice to people not now represented in California's story," Quay said.
The Communities Speak projects, currently in various planning stages, will take place in the following areas: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego (city and county), Marin County, San Bernardino/Riverside Counties, Guadalupe (Santa Barbara Country), Fresno and Stockton. The following are summaries of the 10 projects.
San Francisco
Project Title: I am OMI
Sponsor: Western Neighborhoods Project
Located in San Francisco's southwest corner, OMI -- the area comprising the neighborhoods of Oceanview, Merced Heights and Ingleside -- is experiencing a number of problems common to urban areas, including a rising crime rate and an increase in the number of elderly and at-risk youth. What makes solving these problems difficult are the socioeconomic and physical divisions within the community, including wide disparities in income and education. This project will gather the stories of hundreds of people in the community though a series of oral history workshops and other activities at churches, youth centers and schools. Stories will be presented to the community through videos, store window displays, a free booklet, a theatrical production and a radio drama to be broadcast in 2004. The aim of the project is to give this divided community a unified voice.
Los Angeles
Project Title: From Generation to Generation: Making a Life in South Los Angeles, 1940-2005
Sponsor: California Library for Social Studies and Research
South Los Angeles is a community confronted with a myriad of problems, including overcrowded, under-funded schools and high unemployment. Despite these difficulties, the people of South Los Angeles have created vibrant neighborhoods and have a long history of banding together to find solutions to pressing concerns. This project will tell the real story of the area's distinctive neighborhoods and shifting demographics through the stories of a multi-generational group of residents. Activities will include public discussions, poetry slams, group exhibits and film showings. In keeping with the Library's mission of using history to advance social justice, the goal of the project is to engage residents of South Los Angeles in defining and interpreting their own community's history.
San Diego
Project Title: Stories of Faith: Religion and Diversity in San Diego
Sponsor: San Diego Public Library
San Diego is home to the nation's sixth largest immigrant population and people from a variety of religious backgrounds. This project will bring together a number of ethnic communities to present and discuss the ways they understand and experience religion. Stories of Faith will feature a variety of activities in churches and other centers, including writing workshops, oral history workshops, panel discussions and films. The objective of the project is to enable participants and the general public to learn more about each other's beliefs and values.
San Diego (San Ysidro to Santa Ana)
Project Title: Tu Voz! Stories of Migrant Farmworkers and Their Families
Sponsor: Media Arts Center
San Diego and southern Orange counties are home to one of the nation's largest farmworker populations. Farmworkers in these areas face a wide array of challenges in their struggle for a better life, including finding affordable housing and adequate health care. The focal point of this project will be a series of media production workshops, where migrant and nonmigrant high school students will learn how to document their own stories and those of their communities. The videos will air at schools, libraries and other community venues as well as on cable and public television. The aim of the project is to empower migrant farmworkers to address the problems they face and to create greater understanding of the migrant community among the general public.
Sacramento
Project Title: The Story Circle Project: Remembering the Past, Creating Our Future
Sponsor: Capitol Public Radio
The Central Valley is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in our nation, home to scores of immigrant and migrant groups. By 2010, experts say that 70 percent of residents will be foreign-born or children of foreign-born immigrants. This project will explore the challenges immigrants face adapting to California life while struggle to maintain homeland values. At the heart of the project are a series of workshops or story circles, during which immigrant youth and adults -- Latinos, Southeast Asians, Indians and others -- will share stories of their former homelands and new life. In addition, participants will receive training in photography and audio production, acquiring the skills to conduct documentary work in their own communities. Among the culminating events will be an interpretive exhibit featuring stories, photographs and audio recordings at the Golden State Museum in Sacramento. The objective of the project is to strengthen relationships across cultural and generational lines.
Marin County
Project Title: Finding Marin
Project Sponsor: Marin Arts Council
Perceived predominately as wealthy, Marin Country actually faces a host of problems, including a high cost of living and a lack of affordable housing. This project focuses on the stories of Marin's immigrant population and will collect stories from a wide range of people in the county. The stories will be retold through art projects, exhibits, Web sites, publications and community meetings. The goal is to present a more complete picture of the area, break down stereotypes and develop a stronger sense of community among all residents.
San Bernardino and Riverside Counties (Inland Empire)
Project Title: Living on the Dime
Sponsor: Inland Mexican Heritage
Interstate 10, colloquially referred to as the Dime, both unites and divides the Inland Empire, the 28,000-square-mile region comprising San Bernardino County, Riverside County and the eastern tip of Los Angeles County. Long home to native American groups, the region has experienced a vast influx of immigrants and settlers from every corner of the world in the past 150 years. This project will tell the stories of people whose lives have been affected by the freeway. The goal is to create a sense of community among those who live and work along Interstate 10 and set the stage for continuing debate over development in the area. Story-collecting activities will provide materials for a Web site, a multimedia exhibit and a community theatrical production.
Guadalupe (Santa Barbara County)
Project Title: Guadalupe Speaks
Sponsor: The Dunes Center
Guadalupe, a small agrarian town landlocked by sand dunes and the Pacific Ocean, has the lowest per capita income in Santa Barbara County. Residents, 84 percent of whom are Latino, have a sense of hopelessness about the town's future. This project will collect stories that reflect the history and culture of the community through interviews with a broad group of residents -- from farmworkers to new middle-class residents who live in recently built, gated communities. The public will hear the stories in a variety of ways, including community discussions, interpretive exhibits and a theater piece. The aim of the project is to instill a sense of pride in the town and to encourage residents to think about new economic possibilities for the area.
Fresno
Project Title: Harvest Story: Connections to the Land
Sponsor: Fresno Arts Council
Agriculture is the lifeblood of Fresno County, where almost half the land is devoted to farming. Despite economic and ethnic differences, family farmers and farmworkers are an important part of the landscape and share common aspirations. Today, falling crop prices and the increasing value of the land threaten the viability of the family farm and farm laborers, most of whom are first-generation Mexican immigrants. This project will enable family farmers and famworkers in some of Fresno's poorest communities to relate their struggle for respect, understanding and cooperation. The stories will be told to the community through exhibits, local forums and radio programs, The aim of the project is to strengthen relationships between both groups.
Stockton
Project Title: When We Were Young: The Experiences of Stocktonians Across Three Generations
Sponsor: Jacoby Center for Community and Regional Studies
Stockton contains a mosaic of ethnic groups, from African-Americans and Latinos to Hmong. Many families are struggling to preserve cultural memories and communicate across three or four generations. The city itself faces a number of problems, including increasing ethnic tensions. This project will highlight the experiences of the young and old in Stockton by gathering intergenerational coming-of-age stories from 11 ethnic groups. Stories will be presented to the community through a photography exhibit, traveling displays and a Web site. The aim is to strengthen intergenerational ties, foster understanding across and between cultures, and support the city's efforts to develop community leadership.
Communities Speak Funding
The 10 Communities Speak projects were awarded $5,000 planning grants in September 2002 and received implementation grants of up to $75,000 this month. Communities Speak grants are made possible by grants to the Council from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the James Irvine Foundation and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. Four community foundations -- the California Community Foundation in Los Angeles, the Marin Community Foundation, the Santa Barbara Foundation, and the San Francisco Foundation -- are lending significant support to projects in their areas.
About the California Council for the Humanities
The mission of the California Council for the Humanities is to enrich California's cultural life and strengthen communities through public use of the humanities. A state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Council has supported and created programs that bring Californians together around their history and culture for more than 25 years.
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