~ Zocalo
My L.A. Childhood Was Tough. But Seeing the Struggles of South Africans Inspired Me to Help Kids in My Own Backyard.
By D’Artagnan Scorza, Ph.D.
I first learned black history from Ms. Gilliard, my teacher at 96th Street Elementary School in Watts, who selected me to present the “I Have a Dream” speech in a school-wide assembly. In hindsight, I see this as the beginning of my understanding of the struggle of African-Americans in our fight for social justice and economic equality. Growing up, I remember different times when my mother, sister, and I were evicted and had to sleep in the back of our car, in a hotel, or in a homeless shelter. My father was addicted to drugs, and I don’t remember meeting him until I was 6 years old and living in a halfway house. This story is too familiar to young black males. But unlike the young men who ended up in gangs or went to prison, I was fortunate enough to have amazing people in my life who helped me persevere. I graduated from Morningside High School in Inglewood and enrolled at UCLA. Through all of this, I thought I understood poverty, racism, segregation, and inequality.
But not entirely. Not until I went to South Africa.
The trip was in 2001, my third year at UCLA. I chose to go to South Africa on a study abroad program because I wanted to visit Africa—what I was always told was the “Motherland.” When I toured the townships of Cape Town, I was shocked and humbled by the sight of shanty towns: small, impoverished cities made up of crudely built dwellings. When we stopped in Langa to get water, the abject poverty was hard to reconcile with the version of poverty I experienced, and the images of American prosperity upon which we all were raised. I came face to face with my own privilege.
As we traveled to Cape Town District Six, where 60,000 residents were compulsorily removed during the apartheid regime, I saw the deplorable effects of racism and forced segregation. As I walked the stony roads, I could not help but think of my experiences moving from home to home and wondered how those South African children felt. The District Six Museum stood as a monument that taught us about the legal structure and systematic denial of life and liberty to the South African majority during apartheid. And then it was on to Robben Island, where the profound moment of standing in Nelson Mandela’s cell forced me to think about the legacy I wanted to leave the world.
Why did South Africa change me? Somehow, being there, and traveling through the country, connected my past to my future. Given all the damage apartheid caused to native South Africans, I still saw so much hope. Somehow, the challenges I experienced growing up didn’t feel so heavy anymore. As we traveled around the country, I learned more about the leadership of the African National Congress, read the works of Desmond Tutu, and visited the Transvaal where Zulu men, at the Battle of Isandlwana in 1879, threw off the shackles of British rule. These experiences created a desire to evaluate the social, economic, and political conditions caused by racism. The travel made me more human. When I saw South African children, I saw myself.
By the end of my trip to South Africa that August, I decided that I would live a different life, one that would focus on loving and caring for people, because of all that was around them.
My journey from there would not be a straight line—shortly after I returned from South Africa, the U.S. was attacked on September 11, and I enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Through my travels in the Navy and nearly five years I spent in the service—including a tour in Iraq—I came to see the story of South Africa in other nations. This gave me an even greater desire to become an agent of change. I returned to UCLA to fulfill the commitment I’d made to myself first in South Africa.
Concerned about the issues facing black males like me, I was selected to become a McNair research scholar, where I established my foundation as a researcher and scholar committed to addressing these issues. This trajectory took me back full circle, to Morningside High, where I conducted my research with black male youth. The need of these young men led me to develop an academic intervention program in 2006 called the Black Male Youth Academy (BMYA) where I worked with 25 African-American male youth in grades nine to 12 to mitigate gang violence, imprisonment, and recidivism. I taught students how to conduct research and also about their heritage, so they could become self-reliant, more aware of (and critical of) conditions in the communities around them, and more powerful as advocates. In our first cohort, out of the eight young men who graduated, five were accepted to a four-year university, two attended a community college, and one went to a trade school. These were young men from a high school where the graduation rate was 36 percent for black males at the time. (None of them went to UCLA or other elite institutions, which inspired me to become an advocate for higher education access, diversity, and affordability—and a University of California student regent.)
The success of the BMYA spurred me to go to graduate school, pursue a Ph.D. in education, and launch an educational nonprofit called the Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI) with the goal of spreading our success nationally. We’re now serving more than 250 boys and men of color throughout Los Angeles County, with plans to work in Sacramento this year. Although we were helping young men achieve academic success, they were still living in an environment where they could die because of unhealthy or unsafe food they ate. As a result, SJLI has developed a local food system with community gardens, a community-supported agriculture program, and five Healthy Lifestyle Centers in the communities of Inglewood and Lennox.
Every time I see lives changed because of what we’re doing at SJLI, I think of my experiences in South Africa. I am reminded that even when the world seems upside down I have the power to make it better. If change is possible in my community, it is possible in every community where people face racism, segregation, and inequality. We must remember our journey to stand in our power. This is the purpose and legacy of Black History Month.
Zócalo Public Square :: The Racism That Changed My Life.pdf
Annual Community Fruit Tree Giveaway Festival; 800 Participating Families AnticipatedServing the Communities of Lennox, Inglewood, and South Los Angeles . Free and Open to the Public. Hosted by the Social Justice Learning Institute, TreePeople, Lennox School District, and Lennox Coordinating Council
Inglewood, CA, January 16, 2014 – The Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI) and TreePeople have partnered with the Lennox School District (LSD), and Lennox Coordinating Council to present the 2014 Fruit Tree Giveaway Festival to the residents of Lennox, Inglewood, and South Los Angeles, on Saturday, January 25, 2014, from 10 AM to 4 PM, at Lennox Middle School (11033 Buford Ave., Lennox, CA 90304).
Fruit trees are given away as part of SJLI’s 100 Seeds of Change food system initiative. The initiative develops opportunities to empower residents to build a local food system and economy. Thanks to an annual donation by TreePeople, residents are able to grow their own fruit trees, which increases community access to healthy, fresh, and local food.
The festival will host numerous free activities including live music and a fun zone for kids. SJLI’s Peer Health Educators will host nutrition education and healthy cooking demonstrations, physical fitness training sessions, and home gardening tutorials. TreePeople will conduct fruit tree planting and care workshops.
“By the time the festival is over, we will have distributed 4,440 trees since we first started the annual festival, four years ago,” said Social Justice Learning Institutes Executive Director, D’Artagnan Scorza, Ph.D. “Hosting this event in Lennox is also a very important step for our organization. Earlier this year, we built a school garden at Dolores Huerta Elementary, and soon we will be announcing our Healthy Lifestyle Centers, which will also find a home in Lennox. We are making a commitment to the community of Lennox. We will be working side by side with residents to ensure that they attain food justice, food security, and improved health.”
About the Social Justice Learning Institute
The Social Justice Learning Institute works to fundamentally improve the lives of urban communities of color. To achieve this goal, SJLI helps individuals and groups build their capacity to assess injustices, and then use their own agency to advocate for, and achieve, health and educational equity. For more information visit www.sjli.org.
Despite the Infamous Traffic and Sprawl, Los Angelenos are Rallying to Create ChangeSocial Justice Learning Institute Receives Boeing Crystal Vision Award to End Youth ViolenceGrant award will expand Urban Scholars program availability for 50 additional students
INGLEWOOD, CA. (Nov. 6, 2013) – Selected by Boeing employee board members of the Employees Community Fund (ECF) of Boeing California, the Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI) received the ECF Crystal Vision Award on Tuesday, Nov. 5, in Seal Beach.
“The purpose of the 2013 Crystal Vision grants fund is to engender creativity and innovation around the theme of ‘Youth Violence Prevention,'” said Boeing ECF Executive Director Carrie Swanson. “The goal is to seed or grow nonprofits’ abilities to provide innovative programs that give hope, encouragement, alternatives to violence, and a safe haven and address the root causes that lead youth to join gangs.”
SJLI specializes in culturally relevant learning, teaching, and curriculum development, which supports positive identity growth, increased academic achievement, and expanded opportunities for civic participation for young men of color.
“This recognition by Boeing employees through their Employees Community Fund is an honor, and a vote of confidence in the work we do, as well as the community we serve,” said SJLI Founder and Executive Director, D’Artagnan Scorza. “We know all youth are capable of being scholars. Our work gives youth an alternative to the violence and gangs that exist in urban communities.”
Urban Scholars is an innovative academic course, which is built directly into a campus’ academic calendar. The program produces a 95 percent high school graduation rate, and an 85 percent college attendance rate. To date, 250 Urban Scholars have participated in the program and post-secondary education at institutions such as the Western New Mexico University, Central Arizona College, Southern Illinois University and universities throughout the California State system.
ABOUT SJLI:
The Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI) works to fundamentally improve the lives of urban communities of color. To achieve this goal, SJLI helps individuals and groups build their capacity to assess injustices, and then use their own agency to advocate for, and achieve, health and educational equity.
ABOUT ECF:
The Employees Community Fund of Boeing California(“ECF”) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, owned and operated by Boeing employees for the purpose of positively impacting communities where Boeing employees live and work through a pooled contribution fund. A Board of Directors comprised of Boeing employee contributors determines how the pooled funds will be invested in Southern California. The Boeing Company provides all of the administrative support through pro bono professional services, so that every dollar employees’ donate is invested directly in our communities in Southern California. For more information about ECF, go to http://www.ecfboeingca.org/.
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New California law aims to cultivate urban agriculture~ Los Angeles Times
A new law promoting community gardens and small farms lets municipalities lower property taxes on plots of 3 acres or less if owners dedicate them to growing food for at least 5 years.
October 02, 2013 | By Lee Romney
SAN FRANCISCO — Sandwiched between rows of homes in the fog-kissed Mission Terrace neighborhood, Little City Gardens provides salad greens and fresh-cut flowers to local restaurants from what was once a weedy vacant lot.
Like many of California’s urban agriculture practitioners, however, Caitlyn Galloway is plagued by a key uncertainty: She is on a month-to month lease with a landlord who must recoup the lot’s steep property taxes and may soon sell or develop.
Now, California cities and counties eager to encourage community gardens and small-scale farms in urban pockets have a novel tool at their disposal that could help solve Galloway’s problem. Legislation recently signed by Gov. Jerry Brown will allow municipalities to lower the assessed value — and property taxes — on plots of three acres or less if owners pledge to dedicate them to growing food for at least five years.
“As urban farmers one of the biggest obstacles we’ve faced is land tenure,” said Galloway, 32. “It’s a huge step for urban agriculture.”
The legislation authored by Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) arose from this city’s rich blend of urban ag interests: community gardens with long waiting lists, nonprofits that offer hands-on nutritional education, and small enterprises like Galloway’s that took root when officials here changed zoning laws.
The program is voluntary: Interested cities can now move forward to create “urban agriculture incentive zones.” County supervisors must then sign off. (Counties can also directly create their own zones.)
It passed the Senate unanimously and garnered just six no votes in the Assembly. Sole opposition came from the California Assessors’ Assn., which cited potential for abuse by corporate property owners who might cut deals with local government. The bill was later amended to curtail lot size.
Local governments that opt in would feel most of the pain of lost property tax revenue, while the Senate Appropriations Committee estimated the general fund hit at “less than $1 million” in increased school aid annually.
Ting, a former San Francisco assessor, described it as “a subsidy with a very limited fiscal impact. We’re trying to drive better land use for people who might have a parking lot or an empty lot they’re waiting to develop.”
For years, Ting had backed cutting-edge San Francisco policies that helped transform eyesore parcels, raising property values on entire blocks. The idea spread.
“We started to see a movement in cities all over California that have really decided they want to be growing their food,” he said. “They want to have access to agricultural space.”
The concept for the zones is a hybrid of the Wiliamson Act, which offers tax subsidies to owners of rural land maintained for agricultural purposes, and the Mills Act, under which cities may enter into contracts with private owners who receive subsidies in exchange for restoring and preserving historic buildings.
It was conceived by Nicholas Reed and Juan Carlos Cancino, Stanford Law School grads who helped launch the San Francisco Greenhouse Project, an effort to turn a lot dotted with 18 decrepit greenhouses in the Portola district into an urban agriculture showcase. The pair also took an interest in Little City Gardens, helping Galloway with number crunching. Even if she could afford the million-dollar cost of the property she cultivates, property taxes could easily sink her. The property owner wrote a letter in support of the bill but his next steps are unclear.
They concluded that if the city wanted urban farms that didn’t rely on public land, or heavy philanthropic support, “we need to see some change in the tax law that would recognize a different use — that this wasn’t a residential or commercial use but an agricultural one,” Cancino said.
They turned to Eli Zigas, food systems and urban agriculture program manager for SPUR, a San Francisco urban planning organization. Zigas is also a member of the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance — which ultimately became the bill’s sponsor — and invited Ting to hear Cancino and Reed present their idea.
Support flowed in from organizations in Sacramento, Oakland, East Palo Alto and San Diego, as well as more than half a dozen in Los Angeles County.
“Land is a premium, particularly when you have empty parcels going for hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said D’Artagnan Scorza, executive director of the Inglewood-based Social Justice Learning Initiative, who called the law a “huge market incentive for land owners who are not intending to do development.”
Scorza’s organization has already created 40 gardens in Los Angeles that donate the food they grow to needy families who live where supermarkets are scarce. They are predominantly located at schools or on other public land as well as in private yards. But the organization hopes to create a commercial farm that will create jobs while funding its educational efforts and food giveaways.
His next step is to lobby Los Angeles lawmakers to get onboard.
Elsewhere, Sacramento city officials supported the bill and have expressed interest in participating in the program, as has San Francisco Supervisor David Chiu, who is moving forward to seek local approval.
“We simply want to create the impetus and awareness for property owners that this is a viable and productive use of land,” Chiu said. “This is an option many communities are excited about.”
LA Times_New California law aims to cultivate urban agriculture – Los Angeles Times.pdf