Photography at Quinn Center

As our fiscal year comes to a close this weekend, June 28th, we would love to share the photos the youth have taken at the Quinn Center. For two years now, we have partnered our youth interested in photography with the Quinn Center to take pictures at the event. This way, photographers gain more event photography experience all while working within their community. Our youth were at Quinn’s Christmas event, Turkey Giveaway, Senior celebrations, and more! Thank you to the Quinn Center for always considering our youth to capture meaningful events. Click through the gallery below for more pictures!

Black and Brown Solidarity | Creative Dreaming, Second Session

We hosted our second creative dreaming session last night on black and brown solidarity. After dinner, we opened up with reminders of our values on what creates a safe space. The youth then answered some of our reflection questions on black and brown communities, some of the biases we may have, and what we can learn from them. Then we continued building on ideas and topics we came up with last session. For inspiration, Maya showed the youth some of the past creative projects TFD has done. Each youth took one topic we came up with last time and brainstormed some creative projects that related to the topic. After, they shared their ideas and commented on others they found interesting.

Thank you so much to everyone who came yesterday! We are still looking for more youth who are passionate about black and brown solidarity. Contact Maya (maya@thefirehousedream.orga) for more information. Our last dreaming session is March 6th, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM.

TFD 5-Year Anniversary!

Wow! TFD has turned 5 years old! We are so excited to celebrate another year of great opportunities and achievements that have made TFD what it is today. The Firehouse continues to create a safe space for BIPOC youth in the Proviso community. We do this through our 3 pillars creativity, mental health, and financial wellness. Through the beginning of our programming, we focused on building creative skills for the youth. Recently, we thought it would be important focus on mental health resources through our mental health kits and mental health workshops. We have had many achievements over these 5 years and we wanted to celebrate with our community.

First, we had our own red carpet for those who came to celebrate with us! Check out our gallery for some pictures! Then we went into social hour before dinner. Everyone was so excited for the taquiza grill. After we had a gallery which showed some of our highlights over the last five years. Mentees Maya (Spring ‘21) and Tracy (Spring ‘22) shared how the Firehouse impacted their lives. It was a beautiful night that we are so grateful to share with out community. Our hearts are so full!

Cheers to another year!

Art Therapy

Last night we held an art therapy workshop for our community members. Dana of Paint on Purpose, led our community members through a cactus painting to symbolize growth and healing. We talked, listened, and painted about daily activities and memories. Although Dana gave out different colors, participants used their creativity to create beautiful paintings. Thank you Dana for the bonding experience you created and to our participants for showing up for our community.

Community Yoga | March 4th

Hey friends! Last Saturday we held our first yoga session for our community. We had mentees and community members join us for beginner yoga with Kathy Khang. Our intention for yoga for the community is to provide a safe space to stretch and relax your body, but also to just take a break and let that long sigh out. Kathy first led us through a couple of basic stretches and then went into a sequence of movements that helped with getting in touch with our body. After, we slowed down and went into self-reflecting poses.

Of course, thank you Kathy for leading us through a great first community yoga session. Our next yoga event will be Saturday, April 1st, 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM. We look forward to seeing you there!