Mentorship 2.0 | Collaborative Project

For this week’s Mentorship session, our mentees gathered to work on their collective project, a magazine dedicated to Proviso and Maywood. Each mentee is highlighting different things about Proviso. Mya is photographing families, capturing the heart of Proviso through the people of the community. Saffron is photographing local businesses, spotlighting the owners who keep the community moving. Melina is capturing events and highlighting the history, putting together past and present, honoring the stories held in Proviso. Haley is documenting sports, the athletes, teams, and traditions that energize the neighborhood. Ethan is designing the layout of the magazine, bringing every piece together visually, and finalizing the magazine.

The mentees had a quick check-in with Jasmine on their project progress, then moved on to giving each other feedback and updates. We also spent time interviewing the mentees, giving them time to speak about their experience and things that they have learned so far during mentorship. As it gets closer to finalizing their project, the mentees are learning how to collaborate, communicate, and create with purpose.

Mentorship 2.0 | Week 9

Week 9 of Mentorship 2.0 was all about the mentees finalizing their mentorship projects. Jasmine, our Executive Director, has been supporting our mentorship as a Co-lead, and gave creative guidance to the mentees as they helped their visions come together. We want to thank our mentees for their creativity and their great collaborations with each other.

Moving forward, we are excited for the final week coming up next week

Mentorship 2.0 | Week 8

We can’t believe our first cohort for Mentorship 2.0 is almost over. It was media day for our mentees to highlight their skill sets. They collaborated with other mentees and small businesses to make this media day a success. There were three setups: A studio setup with a backdrop, lighting, and additional props. A coffee cart featuring Gabi’s goal of having a mobile coffee shop. Lastly, a creative setup, where the photographers had freedom to place their models wherever they wanted them.

The photography team - Mya, Saffron, and Adlemy- rotated through each station, capturing content and experimenting with different looks. They worked closely with another mentee, Keilani, a digital artist developing an album cover concept, and Gabi with her coffee brand.

It was a day of shared ideas, various setups, and a space filled with creativity!

Maya Hill | One Year Later

Video Credit: Kevyn Tapia

Maya Hill is a past mentee from Forest Park. Maya first got connected with TFD through workshops hosted in the Firehouse space back in 2020. Shortly after, the idea for a mentorship program came to life, which Maya then began in Spring ‘21. Now, she is our Executive Assistant here at TFD and is in school to become a physicians assistant! We are so proud of Maya and we are excited to continue to support her in her journey!

“No matter who you are or who is impacting you at the moment, you should do what you want to do.”

- Maya Hill

Photo Credit: Mya Rose

Restorative Economy

Photo Credit: Mariah

It was so exciting to welcome Xochitl and Gabriel of Co-op Ed Center to TFD this past Wednesday to lead a restorative economy workshop! Our mentees kicked it off with an ice breaker where they were given a question or statement and if they agreed to that statement, they moved to stand in the middle of the circle. It was fun to learn so many new things about our mentees! We love how involved our mentees were and how many new conversations were started around restorative economy.

Our mentees discussed how a cooperative works and made a list of what a cooperative means to them. One of the groups shared, “A group of people working together to accomplish or achieve a goal”. Afterwards, they came together to combine their ideas.

Photo Credit: Mariah