Spring Time at Old Arizona

I got to visit my placement twice this week.

On Thursday I went in mainly to work on administrative tasks like grant writing and inquiring about funding for the organizations' summer programs and future plans. I spent the first hour with the girls coming in for the fashion design class. We talked about their days at school and their plans for the summer. They told me that they still have a long way to go before school is over but that they are excited that the weather is warming up and spring is coming. When the girls went in to their class, I got to speak with Darcy Knight, one of the founders or Old Arizona Collaborative. I was very happy to speak with Darcy because I spend most of my time work very closely with her partner, Elizabeth Trumble, who is in charge of the youth programs. Despite sharing a passion for empowering women, a focus on the arts and their desire to help young inner-city girls from Minneapolis, Darcy and Elizabeth seem very different and I welcomed the opportunity to get to know the other half of this dynamic duo.

Darcy told me that she had never planned to buy an abandoned warehouse to house programming for young girls; it just just happened. She spent her earlier life as a flight attendant traveling the world and going on adventures. She then became a make-up artist for film and tv. Despite the glamor and the glory, she decided she wanted to do something more meaningful with her life. At this point, she has purchases an abandoned barn at the end of Nicollet and to her dismay, had found out that it was the leading corner of drugs and prostitution in the city. After finding out that the girls hanging around the street corner were only about twelve to fourteen years told, Elizabeth and Darcy decided to act: They founded Old Arizona Collaborative Inc., as a way for them to use their talents and passion for the arts to help the the need that surrounded them.

After Thursday's discussion, I was more than excited to go into work this morning. I got to the site and was told to help out with another fashion session. On Saturdays the girls have a special fashion class put on by the Minnesota Historical Society. Each girl is partnered with a local designer and they collaborate to create an outfit that the girls will model in a closing fashion show. This morning I was told that the fashion show is two weeks away and that many of them had yet to start sewing their clothes. Today's class was lead by Kerry of the Red Shoe Clothing Company. Because I can neither sew, stitch or work an iron without getting water everywhere, I spent the morning attempting to be useful by telling the girls their projects looked great and lugging fabric around. I spent a lot of time working with a young girl named Alicia. As she cut her pattern and figured out her fabric, she told me about her life and her love for Lady Gaga.

I am not really sure what I have taken from these last couple of site visits but I know I am getting increasingly comfortable with the organization and its participants. I really enjoy seeing the joy and the power that these girls get from being able to create something. The fact that they can make something beautiful for themselves out of nothing gives them something to be proud of, a feeling that, I hope, will only grow stronger as they discover how many other capabilities they have as they continue to live and grow.