BAVC: Anti-Eviction Mapping Project

This summer, BAVC's Next Gen students will be working on their social action project: The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project. This project will consist of online mapping, interview videos, audio interviews and more. Follow us for updates and student stories.

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Another Stop in Life

Working at BAVC I got to see the impact and change that youth can make on the world or in their own hometowns. The other day my fellow students and I got the chance to make a Life Map. In which we mapped out key parts of our lives. We would give a small explanation of why this location was so important in shaping us to who we are today. Then afterwards we would show either a clip, image, or even a song that reminded us in some way of the place we were describing. Even though we did this to practice the mapping tools, so we would be proficient when the time came to start the anti-eviction map, we were able to take away more than just that. In order to truly make the map we had to look into our past- the good and the bad.

I can not speak for the others but I am currently just trying to make sense of the world and find my place in it. So to be able to take the time to reminisce on the struggles and triumphs to get to where I am, no matter if it was something as small as getting ice cream with the family compared to dealing with racism, was helpful It was all something that I had gone through encouraging me that if I can go through all that and still find happiness in the smallest things I can continue living the hustle. After all of the inner findings, we shared our maps with the class. It was a relaxing way to end class and get to learn more about each other.

- Written by Isaiah Chambers

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On Wednesday practiced using the Story Map software by creating "Life Maps"- it was so fun to learn more about each other through today's presentations!

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AEMP Blog- 7/21- Elody Dang

Nicole is out this week so Adam has been running class. The journaled about a place in the bay that really mattered to us. We then got into groups and shared the places we chose with each other. We explained what the place meant to us and how it impacted us. We also jotted down questions to ask for when we interview each other. I thought this was helpful because it was like a practice run for the interview and we also got to know each other more by understanding how a place can contribute to a person and their personality.

The place I chose was a boba shop on Irving St. in San Francisco called, T-Pumps. The place means a lot to me because not only does it have amazing boba, but it also has given me many good memories. Once a year, every year, San Francisco Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps(SF JROTC) has an annual competition at Lincoln High School where JROTC teams from several schools come together to show off drills/performances they have been working on all school year and compete for the first place trophy. Every year whether my school won or lost, my friends and I would go to T-Pumps afterwards to celebrate. It made me happy because I realized getting a trophy is not what matters but having supportive teammates who were proud to perform alongside you is. That is why T-Pumps has such an impact on me- because it is a reminder that friends are the best prize you could win.

I do not know what I would do if the shop was gone because it is a symbol for me and my friends’ friendship. The AEMP is starting to come off as a lot more important to me because with eviction rates constantly rising, places that are significant to me and my peers could disappear or be shut down. Eviction does not only cause the loss of homes, but the loss of memories and symbolic values as well.

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before we started digitizing our Youth Power & Resource Map we did some good old fashioned brainstorming on the overhead projector!

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AEMP Blog 7/8/16 - Elody Dang

I’m Elody Dang, a senior at Balboa High School. I joined BAVC out of my interest in music production and have been in the BUMP track ever since. This summer, the Next Gen students are joining together to work on a social action project about gentrification.

Before I joined this project, I didn’t know what gentrification meant. I joined to keep in touch with the friends I had made throughout the year and to hang out with my BUMP instructor, Adam. However, upon started this project, I began to gain an understanding of what gentrification is and just how big the problem actually is. I feel that this is an important issue that we should raise awareness of because I witness eviction in the San Francisco community often. Especially in the Mission District. This is affects me because as someone who lives close to the area, I visit the Mission often for work or to visit my friends. Seeing people getting removed from their homes frightens me because I have friends who live in the area and I don’t know how I would feel if they had to move away or ended up without a home. To me, knowing this makes it all the more important to do this project so that I can help my friends and people in the community in so way, shape, or form.

For this project, I’m recording and editing audio interviews of my peers. We will be recording our opinions on the topic as well as stories about eviction that we have witnessed. This will help show that gentrification affects all people. Even youth. We are also hoping that it will help raise awareness about the issue in the Bay Area community. We are currently three weeks into the project.

Recently, we have explored the in depth definition of a community and what an ideal community contains. We did this by creating clay models of what an ideal community looks like to us. We then took those ideas of what a good community looks like to us and started inserting them into our community here, at BAVC. For example, we now start everyday at BAVC with a community meal. Community meal is a time for everyone in class to get together to share a meal and have conversation as a whole, versus just going off into little groups and having small side conversations. This allows us to get connected with everyone in class and build teamwork and strength as a whole. I believe this exercise is important because in order to bring change into the Bay Area community, we must first change our own community here at BAVC.