Building Cities | Alt Chicago

Photo Credit: @amieisfan

On Saturday February 12th, our mentees reimagined their communities with Jon from Alt Chicago. The mentees were given three different prompts and building blocks to reimagine and rebuild a new society. They were split in two groups of 5 where they had amazing dialogue about recreating our communities, justice system, and health care system. Each group focused on ways to recreate a better world by providing resources and dismantling the current systems that are in place. When reimagining communities, mentees provided them with equitable and sustainable resources to end food deserts, bring awareness and multiple buildings dedicated to mental health services, and the arts.

Towards the end of our day with Alt Chicago, our mentees sat and shared a meal and constructive dialogue on the issues within BIPOC communities and how Alt Chicago’s mission is to serve as a liaison between communities and opportunities, an ambassador for the neighborhoods they serve and a connector between partners, bringing intentionality to every step in the process.

Our time at Alt Chicago was a a great way to see how our youth can serve as liaison between communities and opportunities. We can’t wait to partner with them again!

Photo Credit: @amieisfan

Journaling Session

Photo Credit: @_mariah_julianna_

It is important to dream, have hopes, and write down your goals. Today, our mentees learned the importance of journaling & storytelling. They wrote down the things that can sometimes pass through our minds. Every day we have success, but do you celebrate that success? Our workshop’s purpose was to teach gratitude for success, even if it is the smallest thing you succeeded in. Here are some of the topics our mentees were happy to be celebrating: “I am becoming more confident” and “I normally do not talk loud at school, but I notice myself starting to”.

Our mentees also were challenged with the idea of storytelling. They were asked, what is the story that they want to create about themselves? Every aspect of our lives become part of our story and who we are, so how can you shape that to be what you envision for yourself? We are so happy to hear all the things we can celebrate with our mentees, and grateful for another successful day of mentorship!

Photo Credit: @mariah_julianna_

Belief & Leadership

Photo Credit: @amieisfan

On Day 2 of mentorship, we had the opportunity to partner once again with @jaleelanthonytv for a Belief & Leadership workshop. It was so amazing to see how invested and engaged our mentees were. We love to see notebooks being filled up with knowledge learned from creatives we bring into the firehouse. Today, Jaleel discussed what leadership really means. His prompt LEADER helped the mentees reach deeper into their minds. LEADER represents, L- Love, E- Experience, A- Appreciate, D- Discipline, E- Environment, and R- Relationships. Discipline is something Jaleel heavily emphasized. Our mentees took home lots of new information and inspiration. We can’t wait for them to learn more throughout these next 12 weeks.

Photo Credit: @amieisfan

First Mentorship Of 2022!

Photo Credit: Mariah Frank

3...2...1...It's mentorship day! Today we had our first day of spring mentorship! How exciting?! This day was all things paperwork, technology, and guidelines. During the first half of mentorship, we introduced ourselves and shared some fun facts about each other, then we went over guidelines and expectations for our mentees. We filled out some paperwork, and assigned cameras and laptops! This week’s goal was to establish trust and partnership with our mentees. At the end of the day, our mentees shared an impactful story so we can learn a little bit more about them! We can't wait for our 10 mentees to learn all things photography. Stay tuned through our Instagram (@thefirehousedream) to see more behind the scenes and mentorship days live in action!

Photo Credit : Mariah Frank

Mental Health Intensive | Week 2

Photo Credit: Mya Rose

We recently started our Mental Health Intensive at TFD! This is a four week program designed to give access to mental health resources as well as support for the youth within our community. One of our 3 pillars is Mental health and we feel that it is very important to share our stories and normalize the topic of mental health.

The first week of our program was virtual, but this past Wednesday we were able to finally meet in person! Kathy of kathykhang.com led us in breath-work during the first half. During our time with Kathy, we are able to focus on the space and the present moment and clear our minds of unnecessary thoughts. The second half of our day consisted of Erika Aguirre & Erika Luna from Oasis Project teaching different coping skills. We first discussed challenging experiences, our feelings behind them, and how we managed those situations. Afterward, we moved to stations with different objects to help cope with overwhelming feelings of stress. There were things like painting, journaling prompts, play dough, sand, scented lotion or candles, essential oils, and much more. Erika & Luna explained the purpose and benefits of each of these things and allowed each person to try out these out to see what helps!

We can’t wait for the next two weeks! Thank you to our facilitators for coming together to help make this possible.

Photo Credit: Mya Rose