Reflections
Girls Revolution
Rooted in South LA
Nurture yourself and your community:
None of us could have predicted the circumstances of this year. We initially set out to address the needs of safety in our community particularly, pedestrian safety. While pedestrian safety remains an extremely important topic as the immediate needs of our community shifted so did our project plans. When schools began to move to distant learning, and businesses closed, and jobs were being lost we saw an immediate need for food resources and food justice for our community. At the heart of Girls Revolution we have always stood for advocacy, collaboration, and empowering one another to be the answer our community needs.
While we were happy to be focusing on ways to help feed South LA we'd be lying if we told you we didn't feel overwhelmed at times. Not being able to meet as a group in person, along with managing online classes, stress and anxiety for the unknown, project deadlines and more left us feeling burned out. We quickly realized we needed to also invest in taking care of our selves. Our project evolved once more and we decided the focus for the remainder of the year needed to be on feeding ourselves and South LA through our minds, hearts and bellies!!
Plant the seeds of self-care:
One of the things we are most proud of this year has been all of our collaborations! We could not have had a successful year had it not been for all the people, groups, and organizations that helped us along the way. The support was beyond anything we expected from mentorship, motivation, inspiring us, donating items, to self-care ideas! Thank you Susana Sanchez-Young also known as The Designing Chica! She is a Californian, Latinx, visual journalist who allowed us to customize a few of her one of a kind coloring pages and share them with you for free!!! Download them, print and spend a few hours coloring and self-caring!
If you love her work as much as we do please follow her on IG or FB @thedesigningchica or visit her website at thedesigningchica.com to check out more of her coloring pages!
None of us could have predicted the circumstances of this year. We initially set out to address the needs of safety in our community particularly, pedestrian safety. While pedestrian safety remains an extremely important topic as the immediate needs of our community shifted so did our project plans. When schools began to move to distant learning, and businesses closed, and jobs were being lost we saw an immediate need for food resources and food justice for our community. At the heart of Girls Revolution we have always stood for advocacy, collaboration, and empowering one another to be the answer our community needs.
While we were happy to be focusing on ways to help feed South LA we'd be lying if we told you we didn't feel overwhelmed at times. Not being able to meet as a group in person, along with managing online classes, stress and anxiety for the unknown, project deadlines and more left us feeling burned out. We quickly realized we needed to also invest in taking care of our selves. Our project evolved once more and we decided the focus for the remainder of the year needed to be on feeding ourselves and South LA through our minds, hearts and bellies!!
Plant the seeds of self-care:
One of the things we are most proud of this year has been all of our collaborations! We could not have had a successful year had it not been for all the people, groups, and organizations that helped us along the way. The support was beyond anything we expected from mentorship, motivation, inspiring us, donating items, to self-care ideas! Thank you Susana Sanchez-Young also known as The Designing Chica! She is a Californian, Latinx, visual journalist who allowed us to customize a few of her one of a kind coloring pages and share them with you for free!!! Download them, print and spend a few hours coloring and self-caring!
If you love her work as much as we do please follow her on IG or FB @thedesigningchica or visit her website at thedesigningchica.com to check out more of her coloring pages!
| girls_revolution_coloring_page.pdf |
| gbla_coloring_page.pdf |
Projects that were just about to sprout:
Although we understand that due to circumstances outside of our control, we would like to take the time and reflect on what could have been. We had already begun working with our art teacher, Ms. Pinkney, and a local church to have Art students at Clinton MS participate in a giant mural project to help beautify our school campus. The project would have been our way of bringing the school together in order to leave a legacy on our school campus. Here is a picture of a local church member teaching our students the foundational steps to drawing your portion of a large mural:
Although we understand that due to circumstances outside of our control, we would like to take the time and reflect on what could have been. We had already begun working with our art teacher, Ms. Pinkney, and a local church to have Art students at Clinton MS participate in a giant mural project to help beautify our school campus. The project would have been our way of bringing the school together in order to leave a legacy on our school campus. Here is a picture of a local church member teaching our students the foundational steps to drawing your portion of a large mural:
Lastly, we were in the process of beginning our collaborative project with our local Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD/SEA) team. We were going to host the first ever Family Movie Night on April 2, 2020 with a jumbo screen, lawn chairs, popcorn and juice for all attendees. In order to continue our efforts in working towards a safer community, Newton Police Department was going to provide extra vigilance on the streets for the families walking home. On the way out, Girls Revolution was going to give movie night attendees flashlights to help guide their walk home. We will try again next school year!
Water your creativity and be-leaf in yourself:
This was definitely a challenging year for everyone! However, being forced to take everything virtual made us become aware of hidden talents we had such as getting in front of the camera and shooting a video, or networking and promoting events online! We weren't sure anyone would want to help our cause and support our efforts, but we were blown away by people's generosity! It really showed us to not be afraid to be creative, reach out, network and believe in the work you are doing!
Bloom, chica, bloom:
If we could give advice to anyone out there thinking about joining a GBLA group at their school next year, or considering taking on a project helping out your community we say to you "yes, take up space!" You are only limited by what you think you can't do, get past that fear and go for it!
