“We feel like one family in one place,” explained Munira when asked how living at Hope has changed her life. Munira grew up in Sudan and moved to the United States in 1999. She and her three young children have lived at Hope since 1995. Her eldest child, Fatima is 14 years old and for the past four years has spent most Saturday mornings with her peers at Hope’s Youth in the City mentoring program. Her young brother, Yaisin, age 9, looks forward to Learning in Community where he spends time reading and writing with a mentor alongside his friends. Munira also has been active at Hope and is a community leader in Hope’s tenant group that organizes activities to bring neighbors together. For Munira and her family Hope has been much more than a place to live. She says it’s a place where people care about one another and where she has built a real home for her family.
Hip-Hop Songwriting and Music Production
Art of MC’ing, 2008
Overview
Youth ages 16-19 learn the art of music producution, performance and writing in Hope’s small music studio. Through music projects youth learn artistic elements, discipline, story-telling, taking a project through several stages to completion, cooperative learning and team building. All this work is centered in community, leadership development and creative expression/artistic development.
2010 Spring Session
January 13 – May 26- Every Wednesday 3:30 PM – 8:30 PM (Class Time 4:30 – 5:30 PM)
Accomplishments
Building neighborhood leadership:
Youth are working through hard issues like how to appropriately use language in rap while still communicating the messages they want to. Many are taking more responsibility for the class – its running and its expansion.
Supporting diverse relationships:
Youth talk about enjoying meeting new people and the importance of their relationships with the facilitators. Youth have expressed how the guidance of the facilitators has positively impacted them and their work.
Building personal and collective power:
Youth are more confident about writing and performing their music; they benefit from constructive criticism; and feel powerful enough as a group to help expand the studio in the future.
For more information: Contact Chaka Mkali, Lead Organizer at cmkali@hope-community.org or call (612) 435-1677.