The room gets quiet after Sam asks, "How would you define discrimination?" Some of the youth slouch in their chairs, while others look up at the ceiling. A few hands slowly, hesitantly float into the air. Sam smiles and calls on a girl with a raised hand. "I think it's when you kind of pre-judge people because they are different than you." "Yeah," says Sam, "that's definitely a piece of discrimination. Does anyone else want to build on what she said?" A few new hands move into the air, a little bit faster this time. "I think its when you give people less things because of their race or gender or whatever," says a young man donning a Giants baseball cap." Yeah," say Sam, "let's build off of that."
As we move through the workshop, twenty youth from a mandatory Life Skills class reflect on what it means to discriminate and what it means to have prejudice. We move from one big group into 5 small discussion groups where, once we all settle in and the chairs stop squeaking, students begin to share stories about times in their life that they were discriminated against. A young woman's brow furrows as she remembers an incident when she was treated unfairly. The students begin to lean into the conversation, sliding to the edge of their chairs as they begin to share about aspects of their identities that are valued unequally by institutions, people they know, people they don't know and even one another. The range of emotion during these conversations is as great as the range of our different perspectives in the world, of the multiple experiences we've been a part of, witnessed, or even imagined. We are not only deconstructing "discrimination," "prejudice" or the "-isms," but most importantly we are helping young people to speak from their hearts, to speak from their own experiences and to listen, to listen carefully to the experiences of others.
Discrimination loses its potent blinding force, its razor sharp edge when we know one another and when we hear one another talk about who we are and what our lives are like. Conversations like this one force young people to challenge their own assumptions about one another and also about themselves. Guided reflection on the influence of external forces such as the media and institutions on a person's understanding of self empowers young people to claim their own identities, while also understanding the complexities of identity within unjust systems. When students see one another for real, when they let down their barriers, a magical thing begins to happen. Yes, you see smiles, tears, laughter, and all of those good cathartic emotions, but you also see students sticking up for one another, you see students speaking up about things that are unfair and you see students, many of the quieter students, reminding one another to speak from their own experience.
This is one of the many ways that Hidden Villa is providing hands-on opportunities for young people and people of all ages to make deeper and more meaningful connections to themselves, to one another and to gain the confidence to see themselves as agents of change. Thank you for your investment in empowering young people of diverse backgrounds to gain the skills, knowledge and open-mindedness they need to navigate the complex social and cultural fabric of their lives and become leaders committed to social justice in their own communities and beyond. Because of your support, we are able to support a continuum of learning opportunities for the next generation of bold and empathetic leaders.
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Dear Friends and Supporters,
As we conclude our 68th season of Summer Camp, we want to thank you for your deep investment in this summer's work with over 1100 children and young adults, providing them with opportunities to develop a greater understanding and appreciation of themselves, the natural world and of one another.
It is an honor to stand among such thoughtful, conscientous friends who are commited and invested in the multicultural community building that takes place at Hidden Villa's Summer Camp. The bridges that are built during Summer Camp between our campers and the unknown--be it a peer from a different background, the wilderness, or a goat and chicken-- really do set the groundwork for a world where everyone has a place at the table and where leaders not only speak for the people, but also the trees, rivers, streams and banana slugs!
So that you can really feel, understand and experience the impact of your investment, we have included a link to our most recent newsletter, which speaks to the deep impact of Summer Camp on campers who decided to give back and become Summer Camp staff. In addition, you can read about the Youth Development work Hidden Villa engages in during the school year, which strengthens the connections we build during Summer Camp.
Congratulations on these inspiring accomplishments that we have worked towards together! Happy reading!
Warm Regards,
Tenaya Schnare
Hidden Villa Fall 2012 Newsletter
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When you gave a donation to the “Growing Healthy Families” Project on GlobalGiving.org, you invested in a thriving partnership between Hidden Villa and the Community Services Agency’s Food and Nutrition Center (CSA). Please know how grateful we are for your thoughtful and generous support of this project. With your help, this partnership provides over 4,800 of our low-income neighbors with fresh fruit and vegetables at their local food bank. In this report, I will share with you exciting updates on this partnership’s progress this year to date.
I am delighted to report that Hidden Villa has been selected as a recipient of the Community Service Agency’s (CSA) Hometown Hero Awards, which Hidden Villa will receive at the Hometown Heroes Recognition Breakfast on September 14th. We are proud and honored to be recognized as a “Partner in Feeding the Hungry” for providing the CSA with almost 10,000 pounds annually of fresh-from-the-farm organic produce for distribution directly to their clients. We would like to thank our friends and partners at the Agency for honoring Hidden Villa, and furthermore we thank you for making this partnership possible. For more information about their event, please see the following link: Community Services Agency Mountain View
Here on the farm, the summer harvests are rewarding Hidden Villa’s Farm Crew for their long hours of spring planting and weeding. Sharing this bounty with the community is incredibly fulfilling. Each Wednesday and Friday morning, the Farm Crew stacks yellow lugs of produce to be picked up by a dedicated CSA volunteer. If you were to visit the farm, you would see lugs of tomatillos, tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn, cucumbers, basil, zucchini, greens, and more, waiting to go to CSA. We are proud to say this is the seventh year Hidden Villa is partnering with CSA in donating a quarter of our produce to ensure our low income neighbors have access to high quality fruits and vegetables.
This summer we hope to have a Harvest Festival for the “Growing Healthy Families” program, in which we will invite CSA clients to Hidden Villa to experience the farm and see where their produce comes from. Once again, thank you so much for your generous donations, and for helping us provide our neighbors with this valuable service.
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