Community Design Still Matters

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DIVAS for Social Justice second mural in Laurelton! Go check it out at 141 Road and 225th Street

On a windy spring day DIVAS for Social Justice completed their second mural in Laurelton, Queens in partnership with RPGA Studio Inc. Both organizations share a passion for providing a platform for giving voice to community issues through technology.

RPGA Studio provided a stencil design residency in partnership with DIVAS for Social Justice

 

DIVAS for Social Justice offers a 15- hour a week after-school program entitled STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Math) for Social Change at the Linden SDA School. This program is free to middle school students and is funded through the Department of Youth and Community Development. The after-school provides training and exposure to STEAM based activities that include digital media, 3D design and the arts. As students are exposed to these skills the program chooses an overall community theme to explore through STEAM based activities. The community theme this year was economic development.   The youth in the program decided as a collective that economic development in Southeast Queens needed to be identified visually through the vision of the dollar van. The dollar van represented the makeup of the community being predominantly Afro Caribbean and also the importance of how the dollar van system has created jobs for individuals living in the community. The youth in the program participated in an 8-week residency learning stencil design from RPGA Studio and designed dollar vans that represented economic development in Laurelton.

 

Students from The Linden SDA School and the greater Laurelton community painted the stencil designs.

 

With the support of The Federated Blocks of Laurelton flowers will be placed in the future around the murals. DIVAS for Social Justice is looking forward to growing their community design projects and providing a platform for students to express themselves.

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Clarisa James
Clarisa James is the Co-Founder/Executive Director of DIVAS (Digital Interactive Visual Arts Sciences) for Social Justice. For the past seven years DIVAS has provided free or sliding scale technology training to youth in underserved communities in Central Brooklyn and Southeast Queens. Ms. James has been dedicated to youth development work for the past 15years in the roles of Teaching Artist, After School Director, Curriculum Specialist and artist. Her life's work encompasses empowering youth in underserved communities to use technology for social change and think critically about the issues that are affecting them most. For the past seven years Ms. James has facilitated workshops that help youth develop multimedia projects around environmental justice, housing, leadership development and reproductive justice. Ms. James holds an MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College's Film & Media Department. In addition to DIVAS for Social Justice, Ms. James currently serves on the advisory board of the Children’s Cabinet, Office of the Deputy Mayor Strategic Policy Initiatives at City Hall. Clarisa James is full of gratitude to her parents for providing such a wonderful upbringing and having the foresight to move into the community of Laurelton in the early 1970's. Clarisa is proud to be a daughter of Laurelton.