Youth Voice Activate Project
This project took place at Youth Spirit Artworks (YSA) in Berkeley. YSA is an interfaith ‘green’ art and job-training program that is committed to empowering homeless and low-income Bay Area youth ages 16 to 25. Currently, YSA is facilitating the neighborhood improvement project Parklet & Art Lot for The Lorin in collaboration with other local community organizations, including The Green Initiative Fund of UC Berkeley, Berkeley Climate Action Coalition, and the architectural firm Geoffrey Holton & Associates (GHA).
This improvement initiative has several branches of development, and starting in July 2015 I have worked directly with the Youth Voice Activate (YVA) project. My role is to support and advise project manager Angelina Zevallos, an exceptionally gifted 16 years old selected from a group of 600 teenagers as part of the Amigos Bay Area Youth Ambassadors - a leadership program funded by the U.S. State Department that requires participants to design and implement a community-based project.
With the support and consultation from GHA and the Rebuilding Together East Bay-North carpenters, we are designing and developing an outdoor patio at YSA for performances showcasing artistic expression and self-discovery for at-risk youth. The prime mission of this multi-faceted community project is to build a central stage and seating for up to 120 people.
My responsibilities are two-fold as lead architect in the design phase, and then as a foreman in the construction phase. As the architect, I have spent a total of 110 hours working with the various audiences involved to identify and collect requirements for the patio, as well as to produce models, drawings, and renderings of the site plan, as well as designs for the stage, benches, and tables.
There were a number of challenges, namely negotiating the stringent spatial constraints, which I was able to solve with an elegant but sturdy design for foldable benches and tables, and a dual-function stage that can accommodate events as well as serve as storage for the benches and tables. Moreover, I proposed a stage location in close proximity to one of the existing building structures to allow for a backstage area. The site plan faced resistance from the YSA teen leaders who felt it conflicted with their coinciding urban garden project, but I was able to accommodate all of the 4’ X 8’ vegetable planters into the site configuration while still ensuring that we satisfied Berkeley’s parking space requirements.
I have dedicated up to 53 hours thus far as the foreman overseeing the construction of 14 (of the total 24) foldable benches. Working within a group of 18 teenage volunteers who have no carpentry experience and having only three professional carpenters on hand for a limited time required a great deal of preparation, planning, and attention to safety. This included creating a detailed manual with step-by-step building instructions and safety guidelines. I also ensured that the building process was efficient and streamlined. The YVA project will continue until completion in late 2016.
Working with YVA has been engrossing and deeply satisfying. I have honed my technical skills while experiencing firsthand the challenges and rewards of collective action. It became evident that successful community building mandates the participants share a common goal. In regards to homeless youth, in particular, I observed that the arts, notably “street art” offers an unregimented yet compelling mode of expression; one that contributes to establishing an enduring bond to the sponsoring organization, gently pulling rather than forcefully pushing homeless youth into the rhythms of mainstream society.