“African American Family and Cultural Center nearing reality in Southside Oroville - Oroville Mercury-Register” plus 1 more |
| Posted: 06 Aug 2010 12:07 AM PDT Click photo to enlarge Mary Weston/Staff Photo T.J. Johnson, Clay Canady, Noah Johnson, Andrea Biley and Ricky Hodges talk about the African American Family and Cultural Center Thursday.  But it will be a sort of living institution that continues to grow and build on its mission over the next 50 or more years. "What we're doing now is laying the cornerstone," said Clay Canady. "If the cornerstone is laid right then everything else will be right." The workgroup is now forming an advisory group to oversee the center. The advisory group will then hire a director and staff for the center. Applications for the advisory group will be available at the next workgroup meeting at 6 p.m., Aug. 17 at the old El Medio Firehouse building at Spencer Avenue and B Street. Youth For Change is partnering with the group for business services and nonprofit status needs. The idea for the center was conceived when Brad Luz was director of the county Behavioral Health Department. Focus groups were looking at different ways to address disparities with different groups receiving mental health services. One group talked to African American youth. Canady said they found the youth felt disconnected from many institutions and organizations, and they felt a need to have a place where they could celebrate and learn more about their history and culture. The group was talking about how youth connect with their family and community, when one youth said, "But we don't even have a tree." That statement sparked many images and ideas for Canady, who remembered when he and a friend as young men used to walk to a park every week and sit in a tree for hours talking about their lives.Canady said a tree is a comforting, safe place where kids often to go to talk. A tree also symbolizes a person's roots, family, community and growth, others said. Many families in the Southside area have faced issues related to poverty, unemployment, substance abuse and race, Canady said. "There's a saying that it takes a whole village to raise a child, but when the whole village is sick, we need to heal the village," Canady said. The proposal for the center was submitted to the Butte County Board of Supervisors along with proposals from several other groups from Chico for funding through the local allocation of Proposition 63 funding. Voters approved the proposition, called the Mental Health Services Act, that imposes a 1 percent state tax on the income of people who earn more than $1 million a year. The money can go to a broad continuum of prevention, early intervention and service needs and the necessary infrastructure, technology and training elements that will effectively support this system, according to the www.dmh.ca.gov website. The National Community Development Institute worked with the cultural center group and other groups in the Path For Positive Change for South Oroville to help them achieve their goals. The center that could be open as early as this fall will also be a place of healing for families and the community. Staff can connect people with mental health and substance abuse counseling and other services and resources. Canady emphasized the center's goal isn't to fight prejudice. Rather, it's to build a sense of self-worth, esteem and identity so people can deal with prejudice. Noah Johnson, 23, is committed to bringing the center to fruition. "The thing that brought me to this is I saw a community without community," Johnson said. "Now I see people coming together for this." Johnson said he has invited many youth to the Book Club at the center. They read books with an African or African American cultural theme and then discuss the ideas. "They all leave with a certain sense of self-worth, they didn't have before," Johnson said. Ricky Hodges of Behavioral Health is the liaison for the center and also a substance abuse counselor. Hodges said as someone who grew up in Southside, he sees the need for the center. "I remember walking down the streets of Southside and a sense of darkness seemed to overwhelm me," Hodges said. But he eventually learned lighting a candle can drive away the darkness, and people at the center with similar backgrounds can light their candles for youth and families. Hodges said this will be the first African American Cultural Center in the state north of Sacramento. Andrea Biley said she was committed to the center the first time she attended a meeting. "I was completely in awe," Biley said. Biley has several visions for the center. For one, she said African Americans often experience racial profiling from police when they drive or walk in Southside. She perceives that when her kids leave the house, they have a fear that police officers are out to get them rather than to protect them. Biley hopes the Butte County Sheriff's Office and Oroville Police Department will become involved with youth at the center to resolve some issues. Also, she said African American youth often don't feel connected to mainstream youth organizations. The center plans many social, cultural and educational activities for youth. Biley said the center can be for anyone who needs the services. Some white women are raising black children, and they might not have any idea, for example, how to groom their hair or address issues they might encounter because of being African American. The center will also work with schools for outreach and education, she said. Biley saw the benefit of connecting elders and youth in the community when they held a film festival. After viewing the first segment of "Roots," the kids had a lot of questions that elders in the community could answer, she said. T.J. Johnson, 16, also gives the group ideas for the kind of support youth need. "I just feel like they support me and don't downplay me when I give my opinion," Johnson said. "They take me and other youth into consideration, and I do have some pretty good ideas." Staff writer Mary Weston can be reached at 533-3135 or mweston@orovillemr.com. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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