2018-2019 Newsletter
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CHANGING THE WORLD STARTS AT HOME NEWSLETTER • 2018-2019 AFTER 25 YEARS OF SERVICE, APCH IS STILL RISING! …and not just because we’ve our doors in 1993 and 12 teens launched our 2nd year of RISE showed up. Twenty five years and High at APCH in partnership 20,000 young people later, we with Da Vinci Schools, now open have 700 enrolled and are wel- five days a week at The Bridge coming up to 400 onto our cam- building on our campus. RISE pro- pus and into our gardens every vides a potent combination of ro- day, plus more than 100 in colleg- bust academic support integrat- es across the country and dozens ed with APCH’s wraparound more in internships at APCH and services, with a focus on serving in the community. And, our 75 young people in the foster care Special thanks to architects John P. Zeichner and Dino Tadiar, dedicated staff members are pro- system, on probation, and with- and landscape designer Gabor & Allen viding love, support and opportu- out stable homes. After a success- ing a comfortable Membership of programs we provide, youth nity for every single one! ful inaugural year in 2017/18 serv- Services area and new restrooms we serve, scholars going to col- A Place Called Home is provid- ing 70 students, RISE launched (happy dance!). Opening the lege and young people placed in ing a stable platform for youth school year 2018/19 with an enroll- Welcome Center and The Bridge good internships and jobs have and families who would other- ment goal of up to 120! completes Phase 1 of our campus all gone up, and this fall we sent wise be living from day to day to Last summer we opened our expansion and makeover. (Watch 112 scholars to college on APCH become self-sufficient and plan new Welcome Center featuring this space and pretty soon you’ll Shaheen Scholarships! and prepare for a better future. the Debrah Constance Gateway be hearing about Phase 2!) We’ve traveled an amazing path When the young people of A Place (named for our founder), includ- Most importantly, the numbers since that first day we opened Called Home succeed, we all do. OUR MISSION TABLE OF CONTENTS A Place Called Home provides a safe, nurturing Executive Director Message 2 environment with proven programs in arts, Programs 4-11 education and wellness for the young people Community 12 in South Central Los Angeles to help them improve Events 14 their economic conditions and develop healthy, List of Donors 15-18 fulfilling and purposeful lives. Volunteer Opportunities 20 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE A WAY TO PRACTICE GENEROSITY IS TO GIVE ENERGY WHERE IT IS NEEDED, WHETHER THAT IS IN THE FORM OF TIME, MONEY OR LOVE. have not - where are you now? question” as we consider what ing things better. At APCH we Are you an alum with a story to the needs will be in our commu- say, “Changing the world starts at tell about how APCH influenced nity over the next decade and home… A Place Called Home.” your life? Please email me! beyond. And, we are preparing Whether you are an APCH mem- During our 25 years of provid- [email protected] and empowering the young peo- ber, a parent, a volunteer or a do- ing service for the youth and ple at APCH to have leadership nor, we invite you to invest in Looking Ahead families of South Central, thou- roles in our community and the making things better for each in- sands of young people have Working together, our Board of world. More and more APCH dividual, for the community, the passed through our doors, grown Directors, senior staff, and some members are pursuing higher City and the world. Please get in- into adulthood, and gone on to trusted consultants are currently education and then coming back volved, be in touch, and bring have families and become con- engaged in looking ahead and to South L.A. to make a difference, your positive energy to A Place tributing community members. planning for A Place Called or joining the workforce as artists, Called Home. We will welcome Hundreds have graduated from Home’s next 25 years. We are entrepreneurs and professionals you with open arms and then college and become profession- paying close attention to the who will influence culture and con- we’ll get to work together! als making their way in L.A. and trends in education, well-being, ditions for generations to come. other parts of the country. Some economic opportunity, commu- We are living through intense have stayed in touch, but we are nity change, politics and social and troubling times, and every Jonathan Zeichner really missing the many who evolution. We are “living in the one of us can contribute to mak- ANOTHER UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER! Last summer 591 APCH mem- many new experiences to our Dance, Fulcrum Adventures, bers enjoyed eight unforgettable youth, from our annual Puppet Geek Squad Academy, Gentle weeks of fun and enrichment! Parade, to Movie Nights, farmer’s Barn, Horses in the Hood, ICM Beginning with a Kids’ Day markets, Social Entrepreneurship Partners, LA Kitchen, Los Carnival and ending with a mas- Biz Camp and dozens more Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles sive Griffith Park picnic, there unique opportunities. The hard- Rams, MattMan Surf Kids were research projects, art dis- est part of summer at APCH is an- Foundation, Mullen Lowe, plays, gardening and harvest swering the question: “what was NFTE Biz Camp, Oregon days, swimming, sailing, surfing, your favorite part?!” Shakespeare Festival, The horseback riding, camping and Special thanks to our partners: Peninsula Beverly Hills, UCLA 72 field trips in between! There is 24th Street Theater, 826LA, Marina Aquatic, Warner Bros., some kind of magic at APCH in American Ballet Theater, Camp and USC’s Wrigley Institute for the summer and our staff and Bob Waldorf, Capital One, Casa Environmental Studies. volunteers loved bringing so 0101, Disney, Everybody 2 HIGH SCHOOL AT APCH TO RISE: TO UPLIFT A Place Called Home is excited housing. RISE students have the If you know a young person to enter our second year of a dy- opportunity to recover credits, who has been caught up namic and innovative education earn a GED or high school diplo- in the system or lacks a partnership with Da Vinci Schools. ma, grow as leaders, participate stable home and wants to Our co-venture, RISE High at in college and career readiness pursue their education in a safe, supportive, APCH, operates on our campus programs, and engage in mean- and loving environment, from 8am-4pm. RISE welcomes ingful extracurricular activities. APCH programs5 and services please refer them to and supports teens and young Through our partnership, APCH [email protected]. are delivered via adults who have not been effec- provides RISE students with five core departments: tively served by the traditional wraparound support services and Educational Services, school system, especially those in an array of enrichment, vocation- Health, Nutrition the foster care or probation sys- al and higher education classes & Well-being, tems and living without stable and scholarships. Arts & Creative Expressions, Bridge to the Future, and Community Engagement & Volunteerism COUNSELING someone to speak to. We will WE’VE GOT YOUR BACK continue to be here for her Jarely, a 13 year-old member, positive and in good spirits at and every child at APCH as they grew tremendously last summer, APCH. She has built a better develop and grow into their and now she is completing her rapport with our staff, including best selves. last year in middle school. Jarely the Counseling Department and has faced challenges being Dr. Lucretia Taylor, Program comfortable with herself, Director for Teen and Young Adult R RESPECT expressing thoughts and feelings Services, which is where she will 93% and interacting with staff and be in another year. E other members respectfully. Recently, during REACH Week, EMPATHY One day last summer, after a a field trip to “That’s From playful incident gone wrong with Disneyland” (an amazing collec- A ACCOUNTABILITY In 2017, membership a friend, we saw Jarely’s ability to tion of Disney memorabilia) was retention remained at activate REACH (Respect, offered as an incentive to mem- C Empathy, Accountability, bers who exemplified REACH. And C O U R A G E 93%. Unfortunately, that Courage and Hope) when she Miss Jarely was one of them! means 750 children held herself accountable for her Jarely’s journey continues, and H are waiting to get into actions - and we gave her her our counseling team is providing H O P E A Place Called Home. props. Following that incident, unconditional love and a safe Jarely has been extremely helpful, place she can come and have 3 EDUCATIONAL SERVICES languages. Some visited their KNOWLEDGE IS POWER ancestral country, proudly sharing what they knew. By recognizing similarities and differences among various cultures around the world, members began to develop an inclusive worldview that will serve them well throughout their lives. Via learning about current world events, members explored values and issues and practiced their critical thinking skills. They developed their speaking skills and voices by delivering famous words by Sojourner Truth, Charlie Chaplin and the poem “I Am Joaquin.” Historical context, identity, cre- Our Educational Services context, members found museum at Plaza de Arte y ativity plus strong academics Department proudly provides themselves reflected in the Cultura. Others “traveled the equals powerful APCH members academic support, enrichment history of the land on which they world” with a special APCH getting ready to lead and partici- and a culturally relevant library.