DJ WORKSHOP - youth Elemento

Funded by the Community Grant from La Colaborativa, Clark Ave Productions in partnership with Youth Elemento, produced three DJ workshops for young adults - 2023 - 2024. Nine students participated in the workshops which were taught by Joel Vasquez (djxpl1c1t). The class touched on the basics of mixing, the technical needs and how to market and promote as a DJ. Upon successfully completing the workshop, students received their own mixer. During the workshop one of our students finally accepted mental health services to help with addition issues; another student with extreme social anxiety was able to use the workshop as a bridge to connect with their fellow students.

DOWNTOWN FLOWER PLANTING PROJECT

Whether standing in line for food support, banking needs, transportation needs, waiting outside the dentist and optometrist offices, or simply stopping to chat with a neighbor on the street, I realized that we spend a lot of time outside and that our downtown could use a little spruce up. We were into month three of the pandemic and coming to the realization that this situation was here to stay…

It all started with an initial call to Fidel Maltez, head of DPW who within hours had not only agreed to fund supplies but had also filled in a lot of the tree pits with decorative mulch instantly transforming the downtown area. We in turn reached out to Dan Cortez, liaison for the police department for the downtown area. Within days, I recruited two Chelsea volunteers, Fidel had coordinated with our food distro team and one of their crew members turned wooden pallets into heavy duty planters.

Off we went to Home Depot where we scooped up the most colorful flowers we could, along with soils, mulch and tools.

To date (2020 - 2024) we have created and distributed over forty planters along Broadway in downtown Chelsea. Along the way, we have requested that the store owners help to water the planters, which has increased community engagement with the store owners which has resulted in increased trust and communication. The program is currently being managed by DWP. In the future we hope to engage more volunteers and businesses.