The Hood by Keturah Kennedy

I have a few guilty confessions to make. I like pop hip-hop, I like Eminem, and I like listening to pop hip-hop featuring Eminem really loud in my car. Today I was driving and heard the new “Airplanes” remix featuring Eminem. I can’t always make out the words to those songs but there was one line I understood and can’t seem to get out of my head, “I didn’t have neighbors that’s why they call it hood.”

There is a common misconception about the “hoods” I live and work in with Mika. Apartments may have more than one family living in them, there may be loud parties on the weekends with lots of people, and there may even be lots of little kids running around on the street, but that doesn’t always mean we know each other or treat each other like neighbors. I was listening to Facia, one of our neighborhood leaders share her story again yesterday and even though I’ve heard her tell it several times the part that stuck out to me this time was that although she had lived on Center St. for 12 years previous to her involvement with Mika, she didn’t know her neighbors. Everyone stayed in their own little world. Over the last 4 years she has now become the woman everyone knows. When neighbors know one another and care for one another your hood isn’t just where you live it becomes where you’re friends are, where you systems of care and support are, and where you know you are loved. The first “I” in Mika’s VISION stands for Interdependent Relationships with God and with Each Other so we care that neighbors who never talked before now say hello as they walk down the street. We care that more neighbors get invited to Quinceaneras, first baptism parties, and birthday celebrations. We care that neighbors know they can rely on one another in the good and the bad.

At the risk of sounding cheesy and somewhat cliché…which isn’t really a new thing for me – I’d like to think the work of Mika is helping put the neighbor back into the hood

Keturah Kennedy is Mika’s Director of Operations and lives in the Shalimar neighborhood.

 

Community in the Truest Sense by Mikkele Bringard

Last night I experienced my first Salvadorian/Guatemalan/Mexican Thanksgiving feast. There was salmon, turkey, ham, rice, potatoes, arroz con leche, pazole, and soooo much more. I ran into Walter, the new Neighborhood Advisor for the Baker neighborhood, at the Mika volunteer party on Friday, and he invited me to come. I was hesitant to attend because when I left in June I told everyone I was moving overseas (which I am, just not as soon as I had originally thought) so I thought it might be weird if I showed up. Either way, I agreed to attend, and the moment I showed up people literally jumped out of their seats to run and hug me. Before we ate, we all sat around (30-40 of us) and talked about what we were thankful for. The neighbors stood up and thanked me, the “mujer bonita” who spent hours walking up and down the street trying in my (very) broken Spanish to get to know everyone. I was overwhelmed by everything as I thought back to this time last year when I only knew a handful of people who had lived there for many years but didn’t know anyone else in the community. I listened to stories of the parties they have and the weekly meetings they hold and the police officers that come to those meetings to build relationships. Some of the Baker folks are even attending bi-weekly planning meetings at the Mika office with neighbors from the three other Mika neighborhoods.

Mike, a leader in the Halecrest Neighborhood Association across the street from Baker, was also there last night. This morning I received an email from him:

“My wife and I joined our Baker Community neighbors/friends last night for a Thanksgiving gathering and I could only compare it to how the very first Thanksgiving must have felt. Sharing a meal and conversation with new and old acquaintances gave chance to strengthen relationships. Everyone had a chance to offer what they were thankful for and one of the common responses is the relationship being formed by our community partnerships. My wife and I are blessed to have been invited to take part in the celebration and are truly thankful for the new friendships and the inspiration given to me to know the value of these partnerships. Friendship is gold and just as my wife and I were offered the many hands of friendship as we moved into Halecrest; we now feel the new friendships offered to us. Health and money are surely important but it is a lonely place without friendship. I sometimes worry about the things I don’t have but then I see what I do have and realize how blessed I am to have such a great family, neighbors and friends.”

Only by the grace of God can a white girl who speaks no Spanish and has no experience in community development walk into a community of mostly Hispanic men and women and form lasting friendships. I now know that no matter what I do and what adventures I embark on elsewhere, there are always people in the Baker neighborhood who will welcome me into their homes with open arms and no questions asked. I went into this neighborhood a year and a half ago hoping to teach others about community, but instead they have taught me.