Our Civil Rights Movement

President Obama addresses the gathering.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of flying to Washington, D.C., to attend the Teach For America 20^th Anniversary Summit.  Teach For America is the national teaching corps, dedicated to ensuring the day that all children in American have the opportunity to receive an excellent education.  I taught 6^th grade Language Arts in New Orleans about a decade ago, in a school that has since been obliterated by Katrina’s aftermath.  TFA is passionate about closing the achievement gap so that, no matter what income bracket a child grows up within, they can have the same life prospects as their peers nationwide.  11,000 people congested the public transit of our capital, and it was a great time of reconnection and re-invigoration.

If there was a thread wound throughout the entire conference weekend, it was the rally cry that educational equity IS the civil rights movement of our generation, and in order to push for transformational change, we need to embrace this notion.  As I'm no longer a classroom teacher, nor am I working directly in education, I admit, I was beginning to feel somewhat sidelined within the Teach For America mission.  In my role as Director of DOOR Hollywood, I'm always drawing upon skills and values I learned during my service in TFA, as we invite and create experiences that others might "See the Face of God in the City."  We are an asset-based mission, working to set up situations of mutuality and real respect across class, racial, and cultural lines.  We dismantle the notion that benevolent upper class folks are the only people who can "help," and that poor folks living in the city are the only people who "need."  Surely, my experience teaching in urban New Orleans has left an indelible impression on me that is paramount to my ability to convey these messages with integrity and authenticity.  But that's only the start, and it's only peripherally connected to TFA's primary mission.  

Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, keynotes the closing.

Then, amidst many other provocative ideas, I caught hold of a gem in the “Faith in Action” breakout session moderated by Joshua Dubois, Executive Director of the White House’s Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.  An excitingly dynamic panel shared ways that their particular faith was leading them to serious involvement in closing the academic achievement gap.  And right towards the closing of the session, one statement hit me directly in the gut: "no civil rights movement has ever gained true momentum without widespread support from churches, synagogues, and other communities of faith."

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., was invoked in many of the sessions and speeches, leading my thoughts to perhaps the most memorable image of his famous "dream" speech: children of all colors, races, and backgrounds walking hand in hand.  Presumably, as equals.  Equal opportunities, equal roles to play in the success of our nation, equal importance in the eyes of one another.  This is freedom, this is what it ought to mean to live in America.  We are not there, not when schools still look so segregated and academic achievement still looks so white, but this summit reminded me that we can be.  We absolutely must work to get there.  So what will I do?  I'll remember that my faith teaches me to fight for social justice, and I will pray, support those in the classroom, and "not-shut-up" about this movement in my church and  the communities where I live and work.   Not until this flame turns into a bonfire, and maybe not until that bonfire turns into the afterglow we're all hoping and working for. 

Reconsidering Success, by Alex

At Homeboy Industries during Dwell Orientation, 2010

God doesn’t care as much about the “job description” as much as the attitude towards the work. God has called us to be present; to love His people as much as we possibly can, despite who they are or where they come from.

I have been reading a book called Tattoos on the Heart by Father Gregory Boyle. It is an incredible book (I strongly recommend it for anyone). This book is a collection of stories told by a man who has devoted his life to loving people our population often declares unlovable. The tattooed, the drug addicts, the incarcerated, the gang members… he walks alongside them all as they struggle to find their way. Towards the end of the book is a chapter titled Success. I have pulled a brief excerpt from the beginning of the chapter.

…This work has taught me that God has greater comfort in inverting categories than I do. What is success and what is failure? What is good and what is bad? Setback or progress? Great Stock these days is placed in evidence based outcomes. People … want to know if what you do “works."

Salivating for success keeps you from being truly faithful, keeps you from seeing whoever’s sitting in front of you. Embracing a strategy and an approach you can believe in is sometimes the best you can do on any given day. If you surrender your need for results and outcomes, success becomes God’s business.

-Father Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart

Don’t worry mom. This doesn’t mean that I will surrender all plans for graduate school in favor of spending my days sitting on street corners. This simply means that I need to go through everyday focusing first on serving God and loving those around me as He would.

From Kenya to Hollywood, by Josh

Six months ago, [during my year in Kenya], it was a 45 minute walk to the nearest town; now I can get to five different pawn shops in less than a ten minute walk. Six months ago I was watching bootleg screener movies that I could buy for twenty cents a pop; now I live a stone's throw from where some of these same ones were filmed. Six months ago the toughest food decision was, what can we cook with tomato and onion sauce; now its which of the 500 grocery stores or fast-food chains do I want to buy from. Six months ago I could go outside and hear only the birds and wind; today I fall asleep to the lullabies of ghetto birds(police helicopters) and angry Chihuahuas. Six months ago I lived in a land where a person would give one of his last dollars to another in need; today I live in a county that has upwards of 80,000 persons without a constant roof under which to sleep. (As well as over 262,000 millionaires.) Six months ago I knew high school students who said that they would die to live in the America; today I live in a city where they do. I felt like Kenya was a land of optimists. Things may be bad now, but we have it better than some, and tomorrow will be better. If you focused on the hardships, you would drown in the questions of "Why us?" Today I feel like I live in a land of entitlement. "I deserve this even though I have done nothing to deserve it." "I have so many resources available to me, but I will ignore them and complain about how I deserve a better life." In short; much of the world has little and can make the most of it, yet another portion of humanity has much and turns it into so little. This culture shift has really been playing with my mind lately.

Everything is West of Here?

"But seek first God's kingdom and God's righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33- NIV

This week, the Dwellers and I went on a silent prayer walk down Hollywood Boulevard.  We started at the Kodak Theater, walked slowly eastward past desperate star-tour peddlers ("I ask for half of what all the people on that block charge"), windows with "surgically-augmented" dominatrix-clad mannequins, past wide-eyed tourists looking up at the lights, down at the stars.  

Upon reaching the famed Hollywood and Vine corner, one sidewalk-seller says to me, "everything you're looking for is west of here."  Of course, she assumed I was a tourist as I'm sure I looked rather aimless.  Indeed, I had no real agenda or direction, just observing, praying, listening.

After all, west of that intersection is the Chinese Theater, Michael Jackson's star, El Capitan.  There's Hollywood & Highland, the West Coast wanna-be Times Square. Slightly further is ground zero for the Oscar's, where miles of red carpet has rolled over the sidewalks and streets.  A bedazzling attraction, where love looks like paparazzi flashes and sounds like the chatter of entertainment reporters.  But is that everything I'm looking for?  

South of that intersection is Gregory Avenue, a street where everyone knows your name, home of our Dwellers, of la Casa de la Comunidad, a house that leans over to love you, even if you're a teenager who tries to prove yourself unlovable.  There's a tree down in that garden which sometimes produces lemons, sometimes limes (it's either grafting, or some cyclical miracle.) North of that intersection is the University of Montana, where 9 college kids decided to sacrifice vacation time and drive down as a Discover group, trekking through snowy mountains to meet and delight in the tales of homeless folks, walk in their shoes for a minute, make use of their hands for greeting and giving and open their hearts for listening and receiving.  (More photos here.)  East of that intersection is Homeboy Industries, where they hire gangsters & ex-cons to bake cookies and breads, run restaurants, run businesses, encourage their peers, stop bullets with jobs.

Tom and Josh make new friends at Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row. 

And east of that intersection is Hollywood Presbyterian Church, where we were headed. That's the spot that God had smacked me upside-the-head when I was seeking rock-star fame, treasure that fades and dims like flash bulbs, dies down like applause.  On this prayer walk, at this intersection, a familiar old crossroads feeling swells up.  I'm deeply involved in a new search as our home flirts with foreclosure and our nerves fray over discerning what's best for us and our 15-month-old baby girl.  I recognize that I've been grasping for security and stability in finances and real-estate.  I see how I'm spinning myself into something that can be, sadly, rather unlovable.  

Be still.  Seek first the Kingdom.  It's the same search this time as it was years ago.  Only the props are different.

Nothing like one of Emma's home-cooked meals after a long service day.  

We continued eastward.  I continue to wrestle my focus towards treasure that lasts.  I suspect it sounds something like out-of-town college guys laughing when a middle-school girl from the neighborhood schools them in HORSE.  I'm hoping it smells like warm chicken tostadas after a day sorting donated winter coats alongside formerly homeless folks for currently homeless children.  I know it looks like the smile from my daughter, from my wife, when I walk in the door after this long, hard day.

Thank God that we're designed to encourage and redirect one another, especially when we start losing our way  - Matthew

Meeting our new homeless friend RD, hearing about how social media is changing the dialogue on homelessness.  She tweets here: Lost Awareness

Help us raise $6,000 before 2011!

God is alive and well here at DOOR Hollywood and we are certainly thankful!  Alayna, Alex, Brady, Josh, Kyle, and Robert are settled in, deeply invested in their work with the homeless as well as the families surrounding 5846 Gregory!  (Click on their names for their ongoing blogs!)  And we need your help to keep this mission thriving: we currently are paying $12,000 annually in property taxes while we work tirelessly to re-establish our legitimate tax-exempt status with California.  All papers are in order and have been for over a year now, but the state is moving slowly.  That $12,000 could nearly cover the living expenses of one Dweller for a year, or it could allow us to send 20 local students from low-income families on a week-long service learning trip in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Miami, or San Antonio, covering program and travel.  Please help while we are in this waiting game, and please pray that we come out from under this requirement soon!  Click here to go directly to our credit card donation processing page.

From our sunrise hike this week.

God is alive and well in this city!

Merry Christmas from DOOR Hollywood!  Click on any photo to see more of the team in action.

Posada, December 13, 2010

Listening, by Kyle

My housemate Robert and I were heading to West Hollywood to check out a free movie that I won through a contest. As we were getting there, Robert was telling me about his job on PATH’s homeless outreach team.  They offer rides to a hospital if someone is hurt, offer advice, give a bag of food, and let the homeless know that PATH is willing to help them with a 2nd chance at life.   Robert brought up something I never thought about.  A lot of homeless have lost their self-esteem or lack the courage to seek a job. Why?  What if you’d been out on the street for months, or years, and people stare at you as they walk by, never talk to you, and just ignore you.  You may feel hopeless and think that if you tried to get a job, that boss would ignore you just like the people on the street.   So, one of the things the outreach team does is to meet the homeless and start a conversation with them.  The outreach team tries to see the same homeless people a few times every month so that those people know they aren’t forgotten.  That may help their hearts to heal, become stronger, and realize that not everybody is the same.  LA is a big city and it’s our job not only to help the homeless but spread the word about what we offer to help even more homeless with a 2nd chance at life.

From Kyle's blog: You Will Never Go Where God is Not

Fall Festival!

Thanks to everyone who came and to everyone who helped with the fall festival yesterday at 5846 Gregory!  It was a ton of fun, great new relationships were made, and please pray that they blossom from here on out.

To see more photos, click on either one here.

Blessings, Matthew