September 2014 - The Hamilton Essentials Foundation

The Essentials Newsletter is a journal for transitional age youth & young adults September 2014 The Essentials Newsletter The Hamilton
Essentials
Foundation is a
501(c)(3)
organization that
exists to provide
programs and
support for
transitional age
youth & young
adults.
Our Focus Programs Are:
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Mental health through the arts
Leadership development
Community organization & advocacy
Youth empowerment
Life skills
Reading, Writing, Math, Science
We personally invite you to stay connected to a foundation that is
centered and rooted around the artistic expression and development
of youth and young adults. Daily, we’re striving to provide positive
and productive avenues for youth to use their voices! Write On!
The Essentials Newsletter This issue is dedicated to the youth participants of the Media Minded Boot Camp.
The Boot Camp was a 10-Day program focusing on youth in Southern California’s
Inland Empire communities. It is no secret that Hip-Hop is popular in the inner-city
communities; the goal of Media Minded is for participants to discover that it is an
effective tool to re-teach the skills necessary to combat harmful vices and lack of
social responsibility.
Media Minded is inspired by a love for literacy, Hip-Hop and Journalism. Juvenile
illiteracy has always been an issue in our inner-city communities. Impoverished
mentalities, alcohol and substance abuse have plagued our communities for decades
and juveniles seldom possess the tools, courage, and voice to combat the destructive
roll these vices can play in their lives. We’ve seen evidence that programs like this
help to shine some light on dark situations. Using hip-hop as disguised learning, per
se, really speaks a dialect to which youth can relate. We’re thankful that this program
is made possible in part by a grant from The West End Youth Grantmakers
Committee and Reach Out and the partnership with The Boys & Girls Club of San
Bernardino.
Monette MoPoetic Hamilton
Program Director
director@THEssentials.org
Published by The Hamilton
Essentials Foundation, Inc.
(951) 223-8161
www.THEssentials.org
The Essentials Newsletter By Shekinah Edwards
Rialto, CA, 14-years old
“I learned that drugs are bad for us. I learned to have compassion and sympathy for others. I learned how to
help someone in need.”
The Media Minded Journalism Boot Camp taught me to be open and see people for what they
are. In writing, there is no room to be biased. There is so much to learn about others cultures and
critical thinking is important. The 10-day [Boot Camp] was informative!
Terrance Stone, President of Young
Visionaries, taught a session on how hard it
was to be in a gang and how hard it was for
him to get out.
He is now successful in
helping others make better choices. He
stressed the importance of keeping our heads
in the books and schools.
Eric Frazier taught me how important it is to
stay in school and [how] important it is to go
to college and just keep our head in the books.
He also taught me how hard it was to get a
good job with no degree and shared statistics
on the job market when you have a degree.
Mickell Tyler not only taught us about producing music but he taught us how everything works in
a professional recording studio!
We learned about the mindset of youth in India. Ms. Samantha Gupta taught me how youth in
India didn’t even have toilets. She shared with us how a 13-year-old boy changed the community
by protesting to have better restrooms and how we, as youth in America, can do the same thing.
I also learned to have compassion for others. Mrs. Mia Lee taught me how to care more and how
drugs really work and they can affect our brains and body. I hadn’t thought of caffeine being a
drug. We discussed suicide and depression and how we don’t have to do drugs to get high; we
can get high from our own body chemicals.
Planned Parenthood did our final workshop on bullying. It is not good for us kids to do things
that could drive someone to suicide. Bullying is not cool or funny at all.
The Essentials Newsletter Vonte Walker
San Bernardino, CA, 14-years-old
“I learned that anyone could make a difference. “
For me, I learned that it is never too late to turn your life around. You can always make a
difference and pursue your dreams! How important is it to have income and not get in debt? I
learned about the seriousness of debt and interest.
Ms. Nedra, the wife of DJ Quik, taught me a
lot about the music industry. Even if people
look like they are doing well, they could
really be doing horrible. The love of money
can be horrible. Money can cause more
problems and how you grow up can affect
your life.
Youth can make change if they fight for it.
Change can come when young people work
hard for it.
To make a song of our own was cool! We learned how it is to actually come together to make a
group rhyme.
I learned how mental health affects us. I didn’t know we had natural chemicals in our bodies to
keep high. Drugs aren’t necessary.
I learned a lot about social media and bully prevention and why bullying can affect us in ways we
can’t imagine. We left being empowered.
“I’ve learned that people can be insensitive to the issues of others. I also learned that people can be
pressured by other people to be uncompassionate even though compassion is wanted and needs to be
shared.” – 13-year-old David Lee, Pomona, CA
The EEssentials ssential NNewsletter The ewsletter By Akira Jones
San Bernardino, CA, 11-years-old
“This program was very magnificent! It was a new experience and I was able to socialize with people without
using technology. I learned about finances, credit, being “married” to the “media” and other great interests.”
I learned that in order to get a job and make
good money I MUST go to college. Eric
Frazier was a credit master to me. I learned
from him that credit is key to a lot of
successful things.
I was taught to watch my surroundings, stay
in school and get an education. I loved
meeting the wife of rapper DJ Quik, Mrs.
Nedra Blake. She was truly a classy lady and
didn’t sugar coat anything. She wasn’t a nogood gold digger. She was very influential to
me because she has a job even though she
doesn’t have to work. That helped me look up to her. She wasn’t sassy, nor stuck up or rude.
I learned that life in America is different from other countries. I learned how important it is to
have heart and courage. Samantha Gupta taught a class on community development and
mapping. She was the master of meditation because she was calm and spoke about peace.
I also learned how to produce music. I helped write our own Media Minded song. It felt good to
be in a real studio for the first time. I felt even better when I learned we recorded our song in only
2 hours, which usually takes artists months to do.
The last three workshops of the 10-day camp were about “The Power of Public Speaking” with
Ms. Kim Bianca, “How Our Brain Actually Works” with Mrs. Mia Lee and the “Power of
Bullying” with Planned Parenthood. In the Power of Public Speaking workshop I learned the
difference between an informative speech and a persuasive speech. I never knew there was a
difference and now I understand the power of being media minded for myself.
I learned how to be compassionate and the more about the power of drugs and alcohol from Ms.
Mia. After hearing all of the other youth share their stories, I felt full of anxiety and nervous. I
learned just how insensitive youth could be to each other. She knew how to present to a younger
crowd so I start calling her, “The Youth Whisper”.
I am really glad I got a chance to complete this program. I’ll never be a passive bystander and
will never engage in or befriend a bully. I thank Planned Parenthood for that!