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Create Now! changes the lives of high-risk and at-risk youth through creative arts mentoring, resources and opportunities.
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Home >> Events >> Newsletter Archive >> February 2007
Changing
troubled children's lives through creative arts
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| Welcome |
Dear Create Now! Supporters:
What an exciting this year will be for Create Now! In 2006, we have served more young people than we ever have in our 10 year history. Over 2,600 youth took part in our programs including art, music, creative writing and our cultural excursions. Our one-on-one mentoring program grew with new mentors who made connections with at-risk youth. We have welcomed two new board members with several more we are hoping to have join in the next few months, growing our resources and opportunities. We have developed many new relationships with facilities throughout Southern California that serve youth who have been abused, incarcerated, victims of domestic violence, homeless, in foster care and dealing with other challenging life issues.
I joined Create Now! (in 1999) initially as a mentor and have since worked closely with many high-risk youth through this amazing organization. I will tell you from personal experience that these are some of the most talented young people – they are just waiting for someone to give them the hope and inspiration to be more, do more so they have the tools and support to change their lives. Create Now! can make that happen and so can you!
I hope you enjoy the latest issue of our ezine and consider supporting Create Now! this year. Even a small donation can make a huge difference to these “forgotten” youth. Please join me and click here to donate. If you have time to volunteer, click here to contact us.
Keep the dream alive!
Mark Schulman
Chairman, Board
of Directors
Create Now!
| What's New |
Journalism Workshop Impacts Teenage Girls in Prison
Holly
Richmond contacted Create Now! in January 2006. As a successful
journalist, editor and creative consultant for such periodicals as Seventeen,
Santa Barbara magazine, and New York-based design publication Contract, she
felt passionately about wanting to help girls that were juvenile delinquents
by teaching a Journalism Workshop.
Holly says, “My attempts to find a mentoring placement in Ventura County went unmet for nearly two years, with dozens of phone calls to various volunteer organizations for troubled girls, as well as county agencies involved with the youth corrections system. I was overjoyed when Create Now! used their connections to find me a spot at the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility, especially since a program like this had never been tried there before.”
Ventura Youth Correctional Facility (VYCF), located just outside Camarillo, is the only prison in California for teenage girls. These female wards, ages 13-24, are incarcerated for serious, violent crimes such as murder and gang assaults. Three out of four of the incarcerated teens suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression or psychosis. The girls serve long sentences at this prison, as opposed to the state’s juvenile halls and detention camps.
“I have been leading a Journalism Workshop for two groups of girls (usually about 18 in total) at this maximum security facility for over a year now on a weekly basis,” says Holly. “To say it has changed my life is an understatement. While my Wednesday afternoons at VYCF are never what I would call easy, they are always revealing in ways that I am constantly astounded by.”
Classical Music Appreciated by Abused Children
On
Monday, January 22nd, Create Now! was welcomed with open arms
at Canal Street Elementary School in Orange, California, a division of
Olive Crest Homes and Services for Abused Children. When Beth Sussman agreed
to once again do her music program with these children, it proved to be
one of the highlights of their school year.
Janice Kuiken, Clinical Program Supervisor, was overwhelmed by the response; children with many behavioral problems and short attention spans not only listened quietly as Beth played classical music for them and taught them about composers, but they raised their hands, excited to answer questions and to ask them.
Beth Sussman got her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the Julliard School at a young age. She’s an award-winning pianist who has performed extensively in the United States and Europe, including performing at the prestigious Lincoln Center, in New York City.
| Call for Help |
Equipment Needed - Can You Help?
One of the goals of Create Now! is to not only impact high-risk and at-risk youth in our partner facilities, but to also have a lasting impact once they have left the facilities. We do this in several ways, through one-on-one mentors, as well as ongoing programs. To help youth who have an interest in music, Create Now! has developed a small recording studio for our music students. We invite the kids that we serve in group homes and detention camps to have their songs produced by Create Now! graduate and Youth Advisor “K.L.” (aka Michael Monroe).
PLEASE HELP CREATE NOW! BY DONATING TO OUR RECORDING STUDIO?
We are in need of a desktop or laptop computer system that can run the software MBox2, donated by composer Josh Kramon, and Cubase 4, contributed by Steinberg Media Technologies. We require either a Mac G4 with OSX or a PC with Intel Pentium 4.
In addition, we’re starting three new Guitar Workshops and are in need of guitars. If you have a guitar that’s simply collecting dust, consider donating it today? In fact, Create Now! is partnering with a number of organizations and the Department of Probation to prevent young children from getting into gangs. We’re helping the Pacoima Charter Elementary School (located in the midst of gang territory in the San Fernando Valley) to develop a music band. We’ve already contributed a flute and all musical instruments are appreciated.
If you have any of these items to offer Create Now! youth, please contact our office by emailing: info@createnow.org or calling: 213-484-8500. Donations are tax-deductible and you will also be recognized on our website for your contribution. Thanks for helping to bring music to the hearts of our at-risk children.
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Kidz' Kreationz |
The Day My Baby Went Away
By Crystal, age 18
(Ventura Youth Correctional Facility)
The
day my baby went away lives only as a memory deep in my brain.
Who is there
to blame? An innocent soul that only god can claim...
So many sleepless nights,
I sit and cry wondering why,
My baby had to leave me behind.
An innocent child's
cry, followed by a mothers wish to die,
How could god let my baby leave me
behind?
I wish I could rewind to the beginning of time, just so I can hold
you one last time
How could this be, I'm living with so much misery,
I plead
with god to bring you back to me.
A prayer that hasn't been answered, a dream
that will never be,
Cries of a broken heart pleading with shattered dreams.
I tried to make things right and live my life without you by my side,
To only
fail and try to end my life.
I'm still breathing, still living with every inch
of agony,
But I know that god only takes those who've already
Completed their
destiny.
R.I.P. Isaiah
Click here to see more of our Kids' Kreations...
| Click and Donate |
Donations to Create Now! in any amount are greatly appreciated. Contributions are urgently needed to support our expanding programs. Please join Create Now! today in reaching the thousands of children who need our help. 90% of all contributions given to Create Now! directly benefit the high-risk and at-risk children in our programs. Every penny counts, so please give generously today?
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| Sponsors |
THE FOUNDATION for BROTHERHOOD
Create Now! Thanks the Foundation for Brotherhood
Create Now! is extremely grateful to the Foundation for Brotherhood for their generous donation of $1,000. This is the fifth year that they have supported us with a contribution. In 2005, they donated $3,000, in 2004 they gave the organization $2,500, and in 2003, the Foundation for Brotherhood donated $11,000 to Create Now! This funding has enabled us to offer many resources and opportunities in the arts to more than 600 facilities throughout Southern California.
In 1962, Mrs. Beck, the founder of the "20 Mule Team Borax" company, started the foundation by donating the proceeds of a mutual fund to support organizations that help children in the Bay area. Since then, the Foundation for Brotherhood has given away hundreds of thousands of dollars to non-profit organizations throughout California.
Thanks to Sam Marchese, President of the Foundation, and his son, Jon Marchese, for donating these funds to Create Now! so that we can continue to help the troubled children in our community.
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| Contact Us |
Create Now! Website
info@createnow.org
2007 Wilshire Blvd, Suite # 919
Los Angeles, CA 90057-3588
Phone: (213) 484-8500
Fax: (213) 484-8555
Create Now! is an independent, 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, founded in 1996.