Self Esteem in Clay

This week, we held an art therapy workshop with Yekseny Guerrero of Leyden Family Services. The session focused on how we can build esteem by amplifying our creativity. TFD and Yekseny believe that everyone is a creative in their own unique way! Our Proviso neighbors showed up and did just that. The clay was intentionally placed out with colors and tools to help the participants make something they believed represented them but as a vessel to remind them of their own self-confidence.

Thank you Yekseny for leading an amazing workshop! We are so grateful to those who participated. Join us for another art therapy with Yekseny November 6th from 6:30PM to 8PM where participants will create Identity Collages!

Proviso West Mental Health Kit Giveaway

The TFD Team visited Proviso West High School to give away more mental health kits! This was our second giveaway for the fall semester. We are so excited to give away kits to new and returning students. Overall, we gave away 107 kits to Proviso West students. Our running number is 2,290 kits given away to Proviso students!

PMSA Mental Health Kit Giveaway

This week, we visited PMSA to hand out more mental health kits. TFD wanted to bring a bright start to the new school year and honor National Suicide Prevention Month this September. The Proviso community has suffered from multiple youth losses due to suicide. Moreover, these kits were inspired to create healthy coping skills for young adults with the intention of promoting mental well-being.

This month is very important for us and the Mental Health Kits. We are so glad to provide 226 kits to PMSA students this Wednesday! Our running total is 2,183 kits given away. Thanks to everyone who stopped by!

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 Art Convening

Our Black and Brown Solidarity Art Convening was a success! Over a hundred people came through and viewed our youth artist’s work. Our youth team, Adlemy, Amaryani, Jazmynn, Neidalis, Milo, and Savannah planned the entire event. Shoutout to them!

We started off our evening with a chance to view the art gallery. We had 14 art submissions, all by youth who live in the Proviso district. Their work ranged from digital art to drawings and photography. Before the presentations, Jazmynn and Amaryani led our guests through an icebreaker. Neighbors, community members, and guests shared their thoughts. Next, we had our spoken word youth, Jermaine from PMSA, present his piece. He talked about what good allyship looks like to continue to respect African American struggles. Then, Milo, Amaryani, Adlemy, and Jermaine, PMSA students, presented their video, which showed a day in the life of the Latina experience and the black experience. After, the youth team did a Q&A so the audience could learn more about the project.

After our presentations, there was more time to explore the space. We had Tacos Regio food truck making Tacos. Our drink table had aqua frescas and lemonade. We also had a table of black and brown cultural desserts from small businesses from the community (Borinken Cakes, Krazy Grapes, Kribi Coffee, Panaderia Pueblo, Sweet Tooth N Company, Yanira and Emilia's Taste of Puerto Rico).

Thank you so much to the youth team who put on this event. Also, we are so grateful for all our guests who came and supported the youth!