Today was another busy day!
Kovit and I woke up and had breakfast and prepared for the day.
After going to the library for a bit to use the internet we met up with my friends Lauren, Liz, and Macon.
Lauren and Liz just received a grant from the Attorney General's office through their Gang Reduction Program. They are using the grant to develop an alternative tour of Richmond for 90 teens from the Southwood community in Southside in Richmond, VA. Many of these teens have lived in Southside their whole lives but have never crossed the bridge and explored the rest of Richmond, so the tour hopes to highlight some of the more unusual facts about Richmond and it's neighborhoods.
The actual tours will be taking place Saturday, February 28th and Saturday, March 21st- but Lauren and Liz gave Kovit, Macon and I the tour in hopes of allowing us all to explore and get to know Richmond a little better.
We started the tour in the historic Church Hill- where we talked a little bit about the background and history of the community. We stood on one of the many hills overlooking the city.

Kovit really enjoyed visiting, and learning about the culture and history of Jackson Ward. Freed slaves began moving into the neighborhood during Reconstruction, and by 1920 Jackson Ward was one of the most active and well-known centers of African-American life in the country. Jackson Ward was once known as "the Harlem of the South", and is still a predominantly African American community. In Jackson Ward we visited the famous Hippodrome theatre


Jackson Ward hosted a thriving entertainment district centered on the famed Hippodrome theatre. Among the names that appeared regularly were Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and Richmond's own Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.

Jackson Ward also had a thriving African American business community and was known as the "Black Wall Street of America". We learned about Maggie L. Walker- the first woman to charter and serve as president of an American bank- as we visited the Maggie L. Walker Museum. Maggie Walker encouraged her fellow African American community members to "buy Black" and support small local Black businesses in order to keep the money with in the community.

We visited many other interesting neighborhoods and communities in Richmond and then returned home to prepare for our exchange with the staff at Synergeo.

The mission of SynerGeo is to enrich the lives of children and families through the arts, education, and cultural awareness. Their vision is to partner with communities in order to empower people to live in community with mindfulness, compassion, and creativity.

Their goals are to 1. Provide an intentional community among the Jonah House residents, 2. Inspire community action through the Arts, 3. Provide children, youth and families affordable access to the Arts, 4. Encourage creativity & positive expression, and 5. Be a partner to surrounding communities, organizations, corporations, & communities of faith.

We exchanged with the Synergeo staff at the Jonah House- which is on the same block as my house! Kovit talked to the staff about his work with the urban poor in Khon Kaen, and they talked about the different projects and programs they offer to kids in the community.

After the exchange we joined Synergeo for their monthly community dinner. The third Monday of every month Synergeo opens its doors to the Oregon Hill community for a potluck dinner. This month's potluck dinner featured photos and descriptions from a project with the Landfill community in Khon Kaen. Kovit really enjoyed the community dinner and thought it was important to have a space for people to meet their neighboors, and enjoy good food and good conversation.