Students Profile A-Live Kitchen For Mapping Project

On April 4, 2024, the students of The STEAM for Social Change Program in Laurelton interviewed the owner of A-Live Kitchen who is lovingly known as Jack. The STEAM for Social Change Program is a 5 day a week afterschool program made available by the community based program, DIVAS for Social Justice. Every year students in the program embark on producing a multimedia social action project that can bring change to the community. This year the students are focused on The Anti-Gun Violence Asset Mapping Project. 

In the fall of 2023, students learned the fundamentals of community mapping and embarked on participating in a community street audit where they identified community assets that focus on health and wellness and economic development. Students captured the information through photography and charting the information. The culminating goal of the project is to highlight what is good in the community to be expanded on to fight gun violence. The community map will be made available online in June 2024 and a physical version will be laser cut and be available at the Garden Of Resilience in Springfield Gardens as well as at Forward, A Social Justice Makerspace for All in Brooklyn.

In the spring semester of the Anti-Gun Violence Asset Mapping Project, students are being trained in digital media by Problem Pictures CEO, Makeba Ross. Ms. Ross has worked diligently with DIVAS for Social Justice to create a curriculum that is juxtaposed with the asset based learning approach that program has set forward. In addition, Ms. Ross connected DIVAS with Stephen Taylor of Colorway Productions who volunteered his time and resources to ensure students have an authentic film set experience. 

A-Live Kitchen is a testament to highlighting that people of color do want healthy options readily available in their community.Having a community asset as this highlighted on the future interactive map can serve as an organizing tool for more healthier options to come to the community.