In This Issue:
... Programming Update
Programming Update
 This session is co-facilitated by Gail Harrison, Executive Director of Lakeshore Ethnic Diversity Alliance, and Fred Johnson III, Associate Professor of History, Hope College. Cost is $100; needs-based scholarships are available. To register, contact Patricia Strachan, Holland Area Chamber of Commerce at (616) 392-2389, ext. 110.
The Institute planted the seed – now I see/hear things differently – the sensitivity will only continue to grow with time." 2007 Participant
Mentors Needed! Enrich your community without spending money…..
 The program goals are to increase the comfort level of migrant children and families in functioning within the local community, to increase access to community resources, to build cultural bridges between the local population and the migrant community, and to assist with the academic achievement of migrant children. We invite you to consider becoming a mentor with the Migrant Mentoring Program to enrich the life of a child and build bridges between cultures. For further information on becoming a mentor or to apply, please contact Sarah Salguera at program@ethnicdiversity.org or (616) 846-9074.
Now seeking Dialogue Facilitators for next Calling All Colors Conference
White people are given more space and resources; people of color are given less. White people get perks in the ways they are treated in the community; people of color experience discrimination.
For the spring Calling All Colors conferences, we are seeking dialogue facilitators who are interested in facilitating a simulation in which groups of high school students are put in the mock community described above. In this environment, they will have to construct homes, hospitals, schools, and businesses. Afterward, they will look at the communities they have constructed and analyze the results. They will discuss how this experience made them feel and the larger real world implications that they can draw from the simulation. We are seeking people to assist in facilitation of this interactive simulation. The time commitment for the simulation is Tuesday, March 3rd from 10:10-11:50 at Grand Valley State University, Allendale campus, although we request you arrive by 9:30am and you are welcome to stay for lunch following the simulation. It will also be necessary to attend a training to learn your role in the facilitation. Two trainings times are offered for your choice and convenience, which are being held in Holland on Wednesday, February 25th from 4:00-5:30pm and in Grand Haven on Thursday, February 26th from 3:00-4:30pm. If you are interested in helping with this project or have questions, please contact Sarah Salguera at (616) 846-9074 or program@ethnicdiversity.org.
Featured School: Creekside Middle
Students at Creekside Middle School recently held a Multicultural Art Show in which students submitted art representative of a culture. The pieces were presented and then judged and a winner was selected. To view photographs from the event, [click here]
 In addition, students are challenged to immerse themselves in the Spanish speaking community here in the lakeshore area. So far, they have gone to local Hispanic supermarkets and restaurants, read Spanish language magazines and newspapers, and watched Spanish Language televisions shows and movies. There has been much interest from the community to offer additional and advanced courses. Please continue to read our newsletters and visit the website for future information regarding the possibility of expanding this program. | Gail's Corner A call came into the office a few days ago. Pedro Gonzalez is on the line for you, my staff advised. Pedro, I thought excitedly! I hadn’t spoken with Pedro in over two years! The call came through, “Hello Gail, this is Pedro, do you remember me?” Of course I remember you Pedro, of course! I met Pedro back in 1997. The Diversity Alliance had just finished the first Calling All Colors conference and we were launching the Migrant Mentoring Program. Although I was aware of many of the struggles faced by migrant agricultural workers and their children (which is why we started the program), I hadn’t spent any time at the camps getting to know the people who worked in our fields or their children. I was about to embark on one of the most delightful and impactful experiences of my life! The Gonzalez family was one of the most respected families at the small camp where we started the program. I was introduced to the family by the school migrant program director. The mother, Angelina, was warm and welcoming of me and my two daughters when we met. Food and drink were offered, as is the cultural norm. I noticed the cross and pictures of Jesus and Mary that adorned the walls of the small, rundown trailer in which this family of six was housed. After the initial get-to-know-you pleasantries, the conversation became focused on the needs of the children and how our program might help. The Gonzalez parents hoped for mentors who would engage their children in activities while the parents worked long hours in the fields, to expose them to the community in which they lived ten months of the year, to attend community events or learn about libraries, to experience parks and visit beaches, and, most of all, to help their children with school work when they struggled. But the parents were nervous about sending their children off with people who were not family, not trusted friends, and not typically members of their culture. Angelina raised concerns about how to ensure her children would be safe from harm, how to protect their cultural values - especially values of faith, family and work. Would her children come to value material things over relationships, would her children come to resent the poverty in which they lived by spending time in the homes of those who had much more, how would these “cultural bridges” be built in ways that honored their cultural traditions, and would the mentors understand how hard the parents worked to provide for their children and their dreams. The families at the camp watched closely to see if Angelina and Pedro, Sr. would allow their children to be matched in this new program. A week later, I returned to Angelina and Pedro’s trailer with a potential mentor. The young man was a college student, the son of a pastor, and had spent time living within a Latino community. Cautiously, the Gonzalez’s allowed their oldest son, Pedro, to be matched with this young man. As the weeks passed, the family became more and more pleased with the mentor and the value of the mentoring program. The neighbors at the camp, watching this evolution closely, began to request mentors for their children. Soon, the children would run up to me whenever I came to the camp, exclaiming, “Miss Gail, when do I get my mentor?” It has been twelve years since that first match. We now match sixty to seventy children each season, most of whom are here from early March through late November. These people are part of our community, part of our schools, and a critical part of our agricultural business. We need to be connected. Pedro called to tell me he is now a senior at Michigan State University. He will be the first person in his entire family system to be a college graduate. His sister and younger brother are also at MSU. Pedro wanted to tell me that the Migrant Mentoring Program and his involvement with the Lakeshore Ethnic Diversity Alliance had made a difference in his life. I felt the tears well up in my eyes as my voice cracked, “You must be so proud, Pedro.” Please consider the gift of your time to help a child and to gain the extraordinary joy of experiencing a new culture. Call today…the children are coming back right now. Be a part of something truly special.
News & Resources
  
Featured Resource:
The Diversity Alliance is now on Facebook, a social networking website that “gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected.”
There is also a Facebook specifically for Calling All Colors: [click here].
Featured News:
A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on. In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context? One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?
Video clip of Josua playing "Ave Maria"
Featured News: In case you missed them, the following are articles published recently in the local newspapers:
2009-02-15 Holland Sentinel
2009-01-25 Holland Sentinel
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