Goodbye October & Hello November!!

Wow, it is truly amazing, how time flies by when you are doing the things you love!! I see firsthand how our passions will always draw us to the BEST way we can serve and I absolutely love serving my community!! Either by connecting resources to the community, connecting people with one another or providing more meaningful experiences for our youth and residents. These efforts are very well appreciated which makes is oh so easy for me to continue to connect the dots...

Docs & Dialogue Oct. 9th at West Englewood Library

As mentioned in my previous post, we hosted Docs & Dialogue at West Englewood Library on Oct. 9th.  This was a special one because this was designed for the youth only (due to limited space) and I must say this setting was oh so rewarding!

Docs & Dialogue Oct. 9th at West Englewood Library

Listening to the voices of our young people expressing their thoughts, desires, and goals was just heartfelt! We truly underestimate the intelligence of our future leaders. These children were bright, articulate and engaged in a meaningful discussion about our community & history.  They really enjoyed the program, so I will be back on Wed. Nov. 3rd and Sat. Nov. 13th, thanks to the Lindsay Coleman, fellow resident and librarian of West Englewood. 

M.U.G.A.B.E.E. & Ay-sha at the Perry Mansion Welcome Reception

During the week of Oct. 11, I had the opportunity to work closely with Columbia College and the Englewood Community Cultural Planning Council (ECCPC or EC3 for short) who welcomed musical group M.U.G.A.B.E.E. to Englewood. My tasks were the following: 1)Find a local band to perform with the group.  2) Help promote a welcome reception and the FREE community performance. 3)Book the group at 1-2 schools in Englewood for a workshop....Not too difficult right??  Well with working a full time job, being a wife and mother, community activist, I had to juggle some things around.  

My first point of contact was Robeson High School since I have served as a mentor, is currently a community rep member of LSC and seem to have a good relationship with many of the staff and teachers....



M.U.G.A.B.E.E. at Nicholson Elementary School in Englewood





Unfortunately that wasn't enough to get this educational workshop booked, so I needed to press on. I reached out to Guggenheim who was ecstatic about the opportunity as well as Nicholson. Both of the these schools have very stern but open principals doing all they can for these schools, and it showed as they welcome this group with open arms. 

Again connecting resources to my community brings so much joy! I was so pleased to hear and see for myself the appreciation of the students while they enjoyed the performance of this unique & powerful group. 

I too enjoyed the performance at Columbia College (photo above) and was blown away by the talent these two brothers shared with us.  And to hear them play with a band I've seen & admired, All Chocolate was just phenomenal!! They ended there stay here with a final finale at Hamilton Park Cultural Center that I attended in spirit and heard that it too was a great success!!  I like to extend a special thanks to Paul Teruel of Columbia College Community for Arts Partnership for bring me in the fold, it was a GREAT experience! Stay tuned for more cultural activities & programs in the near future from the Council...



In the midst of all this action packed month, I was planning Docs & Dialogue/Spooktacular Halloween Bash for Sat. Oct 30th. I partnered with Safety Net Works and the 7th district CAPS team to help pull this altogether.  Meanwhile, I was also off to Orlando for a few days for a conference at my "real job"..... Now you know I had to make time to play while I was there and I did exactly that!! I relaxed with the family, enjoyed the amusement parks, and just clear my mind on my mini vacation so I could come back in full swing!!



As you can see from the photos, the Halloween Bash was extremely successful and was packed with over 100 kids who were very pleased!! We showed a film, played XBOX 360, dance, & did much more all in the community room at the 7th District...The children love it and the adults present did too!!



Officer Angela Wormley& myself

Surprisingly enough, even the teens who came through was entertained....It was a fun time and could not be possible without the help of Jimi Orange of Safety Net Work, Officer Angela Wormley & Rafael Yanez, it was a great collaboration that we hope to do more of in the near future!!  We are all working together to assure our youth were safe on Halloween and through this bash we achieved our goal!! It was another SO FRESH SATURDAY!!Well, I think that's all for now...I guess I can officially say Goodbye October, you were absolutely fantastic, however, I must now move on to November....Until next time, TAKE ACTION to Create the life you truly desire!!