Jul 6, 2008

Project to help women

Redwood City art program offers outlet

By Shaun Bishop / Daily News Staff Writer

It's not news to Beatriz Rodriguez that girls and women in Redwood City deal with violence in their everyday lives.

"We know the issue is out there, and we know that these women and these girls have something to say about it," said Rodriguez, a community school coordinator for Hoover Magnet School.

That's why she hopes a new community art project designed for women of all ages will let them share their feelings about violence and relay a message of peace.

The project, called "Women and Girls United for Peace," will have its first meeting Monday, with women and girls ages 10 and up invited to come and express their feelings about the violence in their lives.

While the agenda isn't set in stone, Rodriguez said she expects the group's meetings throughout this month will culminate in the construction of an altar that will be displayed in the community.

The altar may hold different meanings for different people, but would encompass the idea that faith is necessary to work through problems in the community, Rodriguez said.

"I think the arts are a great way to access and express very complex concepts, like peace and violence, in ways that are kind of beyond the words," said Mary Hofstedt, the youth development and engagement program manager for Stanford's John Gardner Center, who is helping to organize the project.

Hofstedt said the art program is targeting the largely Latino communities in the eastern part of Redwood City and unincorporated North Fair Oaks - where a triple homicide last week shocked the area - but she hopes a diverse group of Redwood City residents will attend and offer their views.

The effort is part of a larger push by the regional Youth Development Peer Network called "Our Path to Peace," which tries to help communities plagued by violence find ways to prevent it.

"Our goal really is to start connecting the Bay Area through this conversation of violence, because there's so many quote un-quote 'isolated incidents,'" said Jason Wyman, program manager for the organization. "The reality is that all of these things that are happening are all interconnected."

The first meeting for the community art project is Monday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Hoover School, 701 Charter St., Redwood City.
It is open to all Redwood City women and girls ages 10 and up, and the group will meet every Monday and Thursday this month.

For more information on the Our Path to Peace project in the Bay Area, visit: ydpn.bay.area.googlepages.com.



E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.