California Story Fund
FotoFolio
Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana
San Jose
Project Director: Anjee Helstrup-Alvarez
Kids’ stories about a neighborhood in transition
The William/Reed Corridor in downtown San Jose reflects a mix of blight and new beginnings typical of most transitional neighborhoods. Kids play near liquor stores and mini-marts and wait for buses in front of boxy apartment complexes and halfway houses. Mothers with strollers, Mexican ice cream vendors and college students share the street with prostitutes and homeless residents.
More than 75 percent of the neighborhood residents have arrived in the last five years. Very few own homes, and more than 30 percent live well below the poverty line.
The “FotoFolio” project will give 12 young people from the William/Reed Corridor the opportunity to tell their stories about life in the neighborhood through digital photography and oral histories.
The young participants, ranging in age from 13 to 20, will attend two-hour workshops for 10 weeks. Working with an accomplished photographer and instructor in writing and public speaking, they will develop skills while offering South Bay residents and community leaders a window into their world.
The project will culminate in an exhibit of the youths’ work and a community forum with the young artists, currently scheduled for September 2007.