Black and Brown Solidarity | Creative Dreaming Session 3

Last week, we held our last dreaming session for our black and brown creative projects. We are so happy with the turnout and involvement of our Proviso youth. In this session, we finalized topics for our creative projects and assigned managers. But before, we always start with dinner and a check-in. We had a great conversation about our favorite cultural foods with recommendations on foods/restaurants to try. Then we did a cultural connection on the usage of slurs in the youth community. Then, we started talking about our finalized project ideas. We will have three different projects all surrounding black and brown solidarity in the Proviso district. We cannot wait for you all to see them!

Next, week we will start working on our projects this week!

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.

Black and Brown Solidarity | Creative Dreaming

We recently received a grant from Healing Illinois that allows us to create programming to amplify black and brown voices. Specifically, we are working toward how can we bridge this gap in our community. Through storytelling, creativity, and trust, we plan on working as a community to bring more light to Maywood and Proviso. Our young adults were passionate and well-spoken about the issues they face in Proviso. We held this session for out youth to use creativity and tying in the topics of black and brown experiences.

Thanks to the youth who came out today! If you know any one interested, our next dreaming session is February 21st, 6:30 Pm to 8:00. Participants must identify as a black or brown ethnicity and come from Proviso schools. Email maya@thefirehousedream.org for more info!

Creating A Brand | Part 3

Creating a brand is a very lengthy process. Colors, fonts, websites, logos, pictures, products, and so much more all need to be in tip-top-shape to launch your brand. Our mentees have accomplished so much over the past few weeks as they have developed their brands. On Wednesday our Mentees partnered up to continue editing and finalizing their websites.

Jasmine, our Co-founder & Executive Director, and Sandra, our Mentorship Coordinator, guided our Mentees through designing their websites. After working on designing, we transitioned into photoshoot planning. We want to make sure that our mentees have portfolios and product photos to add to each of their websites.

Planning a photoshoot is an important part of creating your branding and website. Products, models, staging equipment, photography equipment, outfits, hair, and makeup must be planned and each group should be prepared with a short list for their photos. Today we discussed the date, time, and details to ensure that everything will be set up correctly.

Our mentees get the experience of real-world scenarios and knowledge that will be useful for those who are planning to start a photography business. Stay tuned to see how the photo shoot went!

Photo Credit: Mariah