Youth
When Donté Clark talks about poetry, his entire demeanor shifts. His cheekbones rise to reveal a knowing smile, and his whole body hums and bobs and bounces as he speaks. In these moments, it feels like he’s on the verge of breaking out into verse. Clark, an award-winning spoken-word poet from Richmond, hopes the passion he brings to his craft rubs off on his audience. Since April, he’s led bi-monthly poetry workshops for boys at John A. Davis Juvenile Hall…
Armed with a trash picker, plastic bag and garden gloves, Ahmaya Maroney, a senior at John F. Kennedy High School, snagged the paper, wrappers, bottles and cans that dirtied the sidewalks and gutters along 23rd Street in Richmond Thursday evening. With a corps of about 25 other community members, Maroney picked up litter in preparation of the annual “Trick or Treat on 23rd Street” on Halloween, which is Tuesday. “I think it’s really important to pick up trash around the…
Celebrate the arrival of fall at the Richmond Plunge Saturday, when a sea of floating pumpkins will be taking over the swim lanes. “Some people can go to a pumpkin patch, and go through a corn maze, and go on a hay ride. And sure, that’s one way to make that memorable,” said Paula Cooper-Tipton, the aquatics recreation program coordinator. “But another memorable way is to go jump in the water and swim with your pumpkin.” In its 12-year history,…
On a bright and sunny day last week in Nicholl Park, Ariana Martinez, 16, stood with her black hoodie pulled over her head as she and other participants in Richmond’s new youth outdoor program played rock, paper, scissors, laughing as they fumbled the timing. “I’m excited for her,” said Ariana’s mother, Jovita Andrade. “For her to be able to like, socialize and do more things outdoors. Because she tends to stay indoors and on her computer and stuff like that….
Nearly 40% of 11th graders in the West Contra Costa Unified School District have reported “chronic sadness,” according to a recent California Healthy Kids Survey. The survey says chronic sadness has been on the rise in the county and the state, across grade levels, since 2017. “This is definitely shocking,” said LaShante Smith, the district’s director of positive school climate, after presenting the survey results at the Sept. 6 school board meeting. Smith said the district is hoping to turn…
Unhoused young people in Richmond will soon have a new housing option — the Richmond Tiny House Village Garden and Farm, the city’s response to the growing number of youth who lack secure housing. Richmond City Council this month approved a lease for the land with the Richmond Police Activities League, allowing the planned Richmond Tiny House Village Garden and Farm to continue moving forward. Groundbreaking is set for Saturday, with completion in July. The village will provide emergency transitional…
In honor of Black History Month, Richmond Public Library will hold a free event on Thursday, honoring the city’s early Black recreation and sports leaders. The program, called “Straight Outta Richmond,” will acknowledge Charlie Reid, Eural McKelvy, and C.A. Robertson who organized sports activities that led to a competitive but healthy environment, fostered collaboration, and created a pathway for some Richmond kids to play professional sports. Reid and McKelvy are deceased, but Robertson is expected to attend. “This program speaks…
On a Sunday afternoon in late September, TC Ball entered Richmond’s Multicultural Bookstore with a cart full of kings, queens, bishops, rooks, knights, and pawns and boards to start the first of several chess classes for children. “Cool people play chess,” said Ball, 69, founder and director of the West Coast Chess Alliance in Richmond, as he prepared to start the class. He fell in love with chess about 40 years ago when he was at college, and then 13…
In 2019, after eight years as an English teacher at Richmond High School, Rebekah Ponce-Larsen was excited to start a new job as a librarian at Lovonya DeJean Middle School. Being a librarian, she thought, would give her an opportunity to work with kids but in a different way. “I have more time to get to know individual students sometimes than teachers do,” she said. It’s through that personal relationship with students that Ponce-Larsen has transformed the library at DeJean,…