Bernard Parks - CD8

PARKS VISITS 2ND GRADE STUDENTS IN RESPONSE TO LETTERS ADVOCATING FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING

UNIVERSITY PARK — Councilmember Bernard C. Parks visited with second grade students at Weemes Elementary School during a special assembly on Monday morning, after receiving letters from students expressing their concern about homelessness in their community.

Parks spoke about his career in the Los Angeles Police Department – where he became Chief of Police in 1997 – and his subsequent election to the Los Angeles City Council in 2003. After giving the students a brief overview of what a City Councilmember does, he answered questions from the students. The questions were very insightful and ranged from “How do you become a Councilman,” to “What can we do to help the homeless?”

“It gives me great joy to see kids of such a young age take an interest in their community and the issues and problems that affect their neighborhoods,” Parks said after the assembly. “The most important thing we can do to combat the problems of poverty, crime, homelessness and gangs, is to raise healthy, educated children, who become responsible, civically-engaged adults.”

Classroom discussions led by Peace First AmeriCorps volunteers focused on the root causes of homelessness, including the connection to affordable housing. As part of their service project, which includes raising money for the Weingart Center, the children wrote letters to Councilman Bernard Parks to advocate for affordable housing and to ask him to share his views. Two AmeriCorps members hand-delivered the children’s letters to Councilmember Parks’ office and requested the school visit.

“Councilman Parks’ response to our students’ letters is precisely what our program advocates: that young people – even as young as 2nd grade – have the capacity to care and to engage in a dialog about community issues that affect them,” said Tal Gilad, Executive Director of Peace First Los Angeles. “We applaud Councilman Parks for visiting with Peace First students and for supporting our mission of developing leadership and civic engagement opportunities for youth.”

Peace First, www.peacefirst.org, is a national nonprofit (501(c)3)) organization, which began as a response to the sky-rocketing youth homicide rates in the early 90s, exists to teach students to become problem-solvers with the ability, and the inclination, to create social change. The heart of the Peace First program is a Pre-K through 8th grade conflict resolution and service-learning curriculum, taught by AmeriCorps members in partnership with the classroom teacher. In the spring semester, each classroom chooses a community service learning project to demonstrate their peacemaking skills and their commitment to helping others.