BLACK LIVES MATTER

We are a non profit organization rooted in Maywood, IL, a community that has experienced disinvestment for decades. Maywood is a predominately Black community with a growing Latino population. As a non black Latina, I am aware of the anti-blackness that exists in the Latino community, and am using my voice to do what I can to actively dismantle anti-blackness in our community, as well as, unify the black and brown community so that we can be an unstoppable force with all of the injustices we face. I believe The Firehouse Dream is a community dream, and I’m honored that I get to lead it in this season.

As the co-founder and Executive Director of The Firehouse Dream, I am committed to:

I will use my squares and stories to talk about and share the injustices we see in our world, especially racism.

I will challenge, confront and uproot every lie I’ve believed about whiteness and white supremacy.

I will invite my fellow latino/a friends to challenge anti-blackness in our communities.

I will speak up when I see injustice.

I will not assume myself to be an ally and will do the continual internal work of uprooting my very own assumptions, bias, stereotypes and more!

I will love my black neighbors as myself.

I will pray for creative strategy and solutions for what I can do to advocate for justice.

I will do more than just share hashtags and posts.

I will make sure that I use my buying power to support black owned businesses, and move my dollars from institutions that support racism...like certain banks and corporations.

I will make sure that where we live, work, and who we are in relationship with reflects the value we ALL have.

I will listen more than speak, when learning one’s story.

I will acknowledge and celebrate the beauty of our skin colors and cultures.

I will seek forgiveness for when I miss the mark.

I will grieve when another black life is lost to police brutality, white supremacy and more.

Photography Teacher...who me?

Since the beginning of Dec 2019, I’ve been teaching photography to a group of students at Proviso East. Our photo club averaged 3-7 students each time we met…which took place on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s. We made huge progress from learning how to see light, to my students learning how to change their settings in manual, and then how to import and edit their photos in Lightroom. We had big goals of showcasing student work in the hallways, as well as putting on an end of year gallery.

While all programming is on hold with COVID-19, I remain hopeful that when we can meetup again, that we will be able to move forward with pursuing those big goals!

So friends….here’s a few Iphone pics I took while at Proviso East over the past few months.

HOW WILL OUR NEIGHBORS EAT?

We live in a food desert...so my first thought was...”How will our neighbors eat?”

A pressing challenge that we face everyday, not just in the midst of COVID-19, however, it has only exacerbated our food insecurity.

I posed this question on Facebook, and my friend, Randall, from Best of Proviso NP, commented stating that he was planning something. I immediately told him that I was in, and even offered up the firehouse should we need a location.

Well, on Thursday we hosted a food drop off, where we received 180 frozen meals from HOJO , where we organized and hand delivered the dinners to those most in need.

Then on Saturday, we received another donation from HOJO, who dropped off 10,000 pounds of food along with other donations from PP4H, and more. We met at God’s Heritage Church’s parking lot to disperse bags of food for our most vulnerable. Cars were lined up before we were even open, and before we knew it we were out of food. The need is great so we are planning and strategizing on what else we can do to support our local restaurants, and our most vulnerable. Between the pickups, deliveries, and 150 bags of food that was prepared for the elderly, we are estimating that 250 families were served.

I’m so grateful to have been a part of this movement with other organizers, churches, and non profits...and of course our volunteers and donors too! I’ll keep you informed as we continue to plan and strategize for the next food drive up, and more!

A NEW PILOT

When I dreamed up The Firehouse Dream, I admit, I thought it was only for the youth of Maywood. Last year, our mentors challenged me to dream bigger, and to partner with Jesus. They had sensed that maybe this concept was so much bigger than Maywood.

If I’m honest, I rejected their words….or more so…put them on hold. You see we had just overcome our contractor not completing the work we agreed to, being out of thousands of dollars that we had self funded. I was devastated….and I didn’t have the emotional capacity to begin to imagine that this concept could be that much bigger.

Well, now a year later, and a little more removed from those feelings, their words have played over and over again in my mind…..”THE FIREHOUSE DREAM is so much bigger than Maywood.” What did that mean? How could it all work…a flood of questions followed.

I love how God speak though.

Over the last several months, I’ve been meeting with photographers, who have shared with me either that they were teaching a photography class at a school in their community, or wanted to…but a major area of concern was that they didn’t have access to DSLR’s to teach the students well. After my 3rd conversation with someone….is when I began to process with the Lord, and wonder if this is what He meant that THIS was bigger than Maywood. The goal has always been to partner with other talented creatives to teach workshops, but within the context of it being here in Maywood. Instead, I’ve been wondering…what it could look like to partner and provide the tools needed for creatives to lead workshops in their own communities. In the communities they are invested in. So that it’s local community members creating change and opportunity from within…

I will say I don’t have it all figured out. But I pitched the idea to a fellow photographer, who is also my SIL. And she was blown away by the idea, and that we could partner in that capacity.

So just last week, we launched our pilot.

I know with expansion comes challenges. So we will evaluate and process through how to make it work, should we decide to move past the pilot phase, as well as, figuring out all the other details like how I would best support the team, create curriculum, and more.

All this to say, I’ve already had communities and organizations reach out asking if I’d lead a workshop/course in Pilsen, Garfield Park, Austin, and more. I recognize I’m one person, and can’t do it all. but instead if I can partner with other photographers who live in the community and encourage them to give back, then how amazing would that be?….and I can only imagine the greater impact we would be able to have.

So friend, we’ve expanded….and I’m excited to see what’s going to happen next!

Cheers to growth, and new opportunities.

Jasmine

Co-founder/Executive Director

Imagine with God

I often talk a lot about taking the time to imagine with God on my personal IG: @authenticadvenureco. There's something really powerful about entering into the state of imagination in partnership with God....it's when limits get taken off, and so much more. Over the last year, I have been journaling and imagining with God, and it's where I have found Him moving in ways bigger than I could ever think of. Honestly, it's helped me to take the limits off of who I think He is, as well as to be aware of the limitations I’ve placed on myself.

I imagined with God last year that we would be a family that travels. And in 2019, we traveled the most we've ever traveled before... and what makes it even more special is that every trip was fully paid for except for one.

I also imagined that the Firehouse Dream would be fully funded for our first year, and in Sept of 2019, we were.

I imagined computers, digital cameras, having a DTG printer and more being available in our space, and friend, yesterday Jeremy, my husband, picked up an Epson large format printer that was donated to us....where we will be able to print large sized prints for our future galleries right here in the comfort of the firehouse.

 Y'all this was something that wasn't on our radar for at least 5 years down the line. 

But today I'm reminded that we serve a  BIG GOD who moves in powerful ways. I'm reminded that I wrote this down, and imagined what felt impossible, to now seeing it becoming a reality!

 So friend! I pray that you would imagine big and wild ideas, dreams and goals with God. 

 And when life feels hard, I cling onto Isaiah 43:19- "For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland."

Until next time,

Jasmine

co-founder/ED