Hi everyone! I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself since you will be hearing from me a lot as we continue to build our healthy community! My name is Christal West, and I was born and raised in Oak Park and graduated from Sacramento High School in 2005. I recently moved to Fruitridge Manor after graduating from the University of California, Davis with degrees in Chicana/o Studies, African/ African-American Studies and a minor in Social and Ethnic Relations.

At the age of 16 is when I really began my activism and thinking critically about why my community had to endure so many hardships. Why were my friends often victims and (sometimes) perpetrators of violence? Why did so many of us who were born with such light within us begin to experience the dimming of our inner flame as we grew older? Why did my community feel so abandoned and unsafe? Why was my family always struggling? What caused this? I didn’t intend on going to the university. I had no plans. But someone (my Folklorico instructor) invested in me and pushed me to see my potential. I used that guidance to build the foundation of my studies. From the moment I began school, every move I made was with the intention of building a toolkit to bring back to my community.

My passion is my community, every aspect of it. I manifest my passion for my community through my love of culture, arts, mental health and education. Many of us who were born and/or raised in “the ‘hood” live with open wounds that were inflicted upon us by various socio economic factors and sometimes we never realize how hurt we are because we are functioning in “survival mode.” These wounds leave us with questions as to why we experience life the way we do. I believe in the transformative power and healing that “creating” and sharing knowledge about the relationship between self and the community can bring. I am a huge advocate of youth mentorship but believe that it is possible to develop leadership skills no matter your age or ability. Most of all, I believe that building a healthy community begins with you and me, right here, right now. I look forward to working with all of you and am excited to be putting my little “toolkit” to work!

REPOST FROM NEWS10.NET:

DAVIS, CA – It was billed as the Boys and Men of Color Summit at UC Davis played host to over 100 young men, treating them to educational workshops on male identity, ethnic history and higher education.

The hope was to inspire the youth themselves to help come up with solutions to a growing problem in schools today.  Across the state, nearly one of every five African American students and one in 14 Latino students was suspended at least once in 2009-10.  That compares with one in 17 of white students.

A California Department of Education report showed that while minority students only made up 18 percent of a recent study, they accounted for 35 percent of the number of students suspended once and 39 percent of those expelled.

“[The idea of the summit] basically started with a lot of conversation,” Summit Coordinator, Fong Tran said. “The California Endowment which is a foundation that’s really supported this work saw an overall concern with  …  statistics in terms of dropouts, in terms of incarceration, HIV rates, health disparities.”

Those behind the event say it’s just the beginning.

“Today is the starting point,” Center for Fathers and Families, Rick Jennings said. “It’s a summit where we have 100 plus boys and men of color here so that they can begin the change we all want to see.  So we can hear their voices as to what needs to take place in education, what needs to take place in health reform, what needs to take place in the prison system.  We want to hear what they have to say.  We want for them to be the leaders.”

by Jonathan Mumm, jmumm@news10.net

On January 18, the Camellia Basic Elementary School auditorium played host to the first “BHC HUB” of 2012. The adults and youth from the community met with a sampling of the newly organized groups designed to serve families in need.

Co-chair of the Sacramento BHC steering committee, Francisco Gutierrez and steering committee member Michael Minnick, welcomed the 75 plus people in attendance before sharing a few facts about the ten year commitment TCE is making in South Sacramento. “We are so glad you are here this evening”,  “We are one of fourteen communities in the State of California designated to receive a total of one million dollars per year for ten years. Together, we will improve the health of our communities”.

The BHC groups represented at the meeting included Connect Center (a service of Sac City Schools), Ubuntu Green (eco and gardening training for youth), Panacea Services (specializing in gang intervention), Legal Services (low/no-cost legal advice), Neighborhood Assn. (start-up neighborhood support group) and Capitol Community Heath Network (health services).  A raffle was held with prizes such as Kings tickets, electronic copies of the new “Healthy-E Man” comic book and t-shirts.

Additionally, Isaac Gonzalez and Ron Cooper from Access Sacramento were introduced and all participants were encouraged to discuss how their organizations can become part of the Neighborhood News Network.

Gonzalez explained, “I have so many appointments scheduled. Everyone I talk to is excited to start telling their stories on our partner site, AccessLocal.tv.” The community based news website will assist in reporting the success of the BHC organizations by collecting and sharing their stories and distributing them through the local media and social networks.