In Sacramento, Oak Park is the historically Black neighborhood. Due to racist based laws, Oak Park was the only area where African-American and Black families could purchase a home. Eventually other communities of color moved into Oak Park as well. Sacramento Black Book Fair creator Faye Kennedy shared" If you were Black in the 1950s-1970s, you lived in Oak Park. There was no doubt about it."
Today Oak Park is undoubtedly undergoing gentrification, but the multicultural community is still holding string to its character. It's neighborhood family. CULTURPHORIUM hope that by leading programs in different Sacramento neighborhoods, youth and the community will be encouraged to learn and preserve their buildings and stories for future generations.
Originally planned as an in-person program, YEHSS: Oak Park switched to virtual programming for safety. All together 7 Black & African-American youth located in the South Sacramento area, were consistently supported, and 5 additional youth, 2 parents, and 1 local coach attended select workshops.
Me'Lisa James shared "This is only the beginning of YEHSS! We are excited to be sharing local multicultural history with youth. More often ethnic studies is preserved for adults or students in higher education. But these stories can influence youth to want to go to college and pursue a career in a history or social science based field. The opportunity has to be exposed for people to know it exists." Interested in having us create or present history based workshops for your neighborhood or youth? Contact us, we would be happy to collaborate!
