Nuts and bolts of the project:
Ann: In April 1996 the Ark youth started actively planning the Homeless dinner and invited the other two sites to participate via e-mail. The Parker WYRED group opted to join, the Poestenkill WYRED group did not. The feedback we received from Poestenkill facilitators was that they were interested in attending WYRED events in which they learned/participated in computer activities but that they didn't see the connection between a homeless dinner and an Internet group. I asked Belonde to coordinate this project and to form a small committee of other students to oversee the Homeless Dinner. She picked a small group of girls which included Kaytrina, Zikkia, Sarahcelli, Crystal and Que. The rest of the WYRED group worked on the garden project. ( The girl group that was selected to plan the homeless dinner was a little clubby and some of the other WYRED youth felt excluded.
We need to find better ways of having youth led projects that avoid the in-group/out-group dynamics.) Belonde had been in and out of WYRED and we were never sure if she would show up during the weekly meetings, but once she was put in charge of the Homeless Dinner she was there every week. Up to that point it had been difficult to
keep Belonde very interested in WYRED. Her attendance had been erratic.
At thirteen she seemed most interested in hanging out. One Friday, we had
a meeting at the homeless shelter with the cook to plan the meal. Belonde
was late getting to the Ark. Not knowing if she was going to show up, we
left without her. En route we got lost in downtown Troy. By the time we
walked into St Joseph's, there was Belonde waiting for us in the lobby. She
had taken the initiative to get herself over there on foot.
The girls started by making a time line/things to do list. They arranged a meeting with the staff at Joseph's house, made a recipe worksheet for the other WYRED youth, planned the menu from these collected recipes, figured a grocery list. the meal
which included spicy chicken wings with celery and blue cheese dressing
dip, a chicken rice dish, macaroni and cheese, tossed salad, potato salad,
bread, sweet potato pie with homemade crusts, and peanut butter and jelly
cake. We later heard that the favorite item at the meal was Belonde's
chicken wings.
Wendy has done alot of entertaining for large groups and was a fabulous resource helping figure out quantities because we had to feed sixty people at Joseph's house. Susan another staff member at the Ark also helped the girls figure out quantities for the grocery list. Then Wendy and I took the girls shopping at BJ's wholesale club. The day of the cooking I created a schedule for the day and students had to sign up for for a different activity --cooking, web page and delivering food -- during each of the time slots. I created the schedule to help the two Ark and Parker groups mix together, which didn't happen in previous group activities without conscious planning. At times Belonde was surprised at how much of the burden of the project fell on her shoulders, she complained that other students weren't doing their jobs and that she had to do it all. At the same time she came out of the project with a real sense of accomplishment.
Thinking behind the project:
Ann: Participatory research offers a model for community based art practice.
Social scientist Peter Park describes this type of research in his article "What is Participatory Research?". If the researcher is
from outside the community, s/he should make an alliance with a trusted
community organization. By learning as much as possible about the history
of the community and by participating in day to day activities, the researcher
has a better chance of being accepted by the community. In the participatory research model, once the researcher has
developed a relationship with the community, a team made up of
community members works to name the problem and figure out a method
to try to solve it. A researcher plays many roles: to help people identify the
problem they feel yet are unable to articulate, to foster leadership in the
community, and to help the community to become active researchers
themselves. People in the community are empowered to act because they
have been actively engaged in the process of naming the problem,
developing a research strategy, collecting and analyzing data. Community
success must be defined not only in the outcome of their action but in their
success in participating in and internalizing the process.
Looking ahead:
Ann: When I moved to Troy to pursue graduate work, I knew that I would not stay in this area after I graduated. Even from the beginning of WYRED I was thinking in terms of setting up a structure that would endure after I had left. Mid-way into the project when I learned about participatory research it provided additional tools to meet that goal. With the heightened mobility in today's world, I think participatory research provides a methodology that can help develop sustainable projects.
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