Surfing 9/26

We had our last session this past Sunday. It started out with the initiation of a few visitors and we change it up a bit with a relay race. Mentees were catching waves and cooling off a bit from the heat. It was good end to the session!

Surfing 9/12

The below average temperature didn't stop mentees and mentors from coming to the beach to catch some waves. Whenever we're on the beach, the dolphins join our community and this session was no exception. We also had a special performance by the Back Pack Boyz, featuring several of our more experienced surfers.

Don't miss our last surf session on 9/26!

Tony's Blog: "The next voice you hear...will be your own"

The struggle for teen agers is often described as the struggle to “find your voice”. When Jackson Browne sang those words at a fund raiser for our surfing program three years ago everything seemed to be in alignment. His was a voice of integrity that aligned with the integrity of our efforts to help marginalized youth heal from the traumas of their daily lives.


Sometimes I fear for the ways that our youth go about finding the words to describe life’s experience. Little plugs in their ears feeding them a constant stream of violent, misogynistic, homophobic rap messaging that they walk around for hours mimicking. It’s easy to sit in judgment of the music that young people listen to today. I do it all the time. (I even wrote my own rap about it.) But if we stop there we are simply complaining about a problem and doing nothing to help solve it. What are we doing to change the hopelessness that pervades their lives and encourages them turn to such forms of expression? Every curse word is a cry for recognition and acceptance.

Some of us dream of leaving a more hopeful narrative regarding the possibilities of life to our youth and culture. One such person is Jackson Browne, music idol for five decades now, who decided at some point to offer his talents in a way that could help leave this world better than he found it. So he began offering his gifts to causes that he believes in.

YMC's Jovan freestylin' with Jackson Browne

A few years ago, an organization that I co-founded, Boarding House Mentors, which teaches inner—city youth to surf reached out to him. I knew that this man was ‘for real’ when he showed up at an event we were holding to check us out before giving us an answer. This wasn’t for his public image. He really wanted to help causes that he could believe in. I remember looking over at our silent auction tables and doing a double-take. I turned to one of my board members and said: “that’s Jackson Browne” over at table 5! We approached him and had a soulful conversation where he mentioned that he had seen an LA Times article about us and was impressed with what he read. He ended up taking the stage and then, in a moment that I will always remember he invited our young people to come up on stage with him. There they were, two of the youth that I now dedicate my life to as they rapped with Jackson Browne playing back up. The show ended with over twenty hip-hop generation youth jamming to the music of my youth brilliantly and extemporaneously fused with a contemporary beat (reminding us that it all comes from the same source). They had no idea that their back-up band was a multi-platinum, award winning, Rock N Roll Hall of Fame legend. But what they do know on sight is ‘authenticity’ and Jackson Browne is the real thing…and that was a real moment when young people, who are too often given the message that 'there is no place for you here', were invited to take their place at center stage.

Jackson Browne is at it again. He has offered his own form of genius in a private acoustic performance this October to help Youth Mentoring Connection raise funds to promote our Urban Oasis for youth.

So, please lend your voice to our cause. Think about how you can share your gifts to help young people struggle for the dignity of their lives. If you have been blessed with some success in life, give back so that others may have a chance for the same. If you have been blessed with financial success, please consider passing some of that on by supporting our upcoming “Evening Under the Stars” with Jackson Browne. These are hard times for the youth we serve and we need all the help we can get to assist them to find their voice.

To get tickets for the performance with Jackson Brown, or to simply support our efforts click here.

“everyone I know, every where I go...

People need some reason to believe”

Jackson Browne

Respectfully,

Tony

Tony LoRe
CEO/Founder, Youth Mentoring Connection/Urban Oasis
Founder, Boarding House Mentors

Surfing- August 22, 2010

Surfing- August 8, 2010

It's time for our annual campaign drive! Partner with us to mentor our youth from the threats of gang violence, drugs, and dropping out of school. Everyone who donates will be entered to win two tickets to our benefit concert with Jackson Browne in October.
 
YOUR DONATION WILL CHANGE LIVES! Donate here: Youth Mentoring Connection Annual Campaign

How surfing leads to graduation and college

On Sunday, Boarding House Mentors took a group of young folks from YMC/Urban Oasis to Rincon Surf Point for a contest hosted by Glenn Hening and the Groundswell Society. The contest is focused on “sharing the stoke” of surfing rather than seeing who could score the “sickest wave” or do the gnarliest tricks. There are two things about this event that resonate with what we do at YMC/Urban Oasis:

1) We were “invited”. Despite the fact that the other surfers in the contest were more skillful than our group, we have been welcomed for three years in a row with warmth and enthusiasm. The young people we bring come from a society that gives them messages every day that “you don’t belong here”. So, to be invited to this famous surf spot, three hours from home and welcomed in such a manner is a healing gesture. It is like this entire community was practicing our traditional program greeting “sawubona”, a Zulu word meaning “we see you”.

 2) The event is intended to bring everyone closer together. By so doing everyone’s spirits are awakened. Walking around the beach everyone was friendly. Strangers greet each other and make real connections. This waking of one’s spirit goes so much further than remedial interventions to help young people advance their lives. This is why at YMC/Urban Oasis, even though we do no formal academic counseling our youth graduate at a rate of 96% compared to their counterparts whose graduation rate is well below 50%.

So, I’m sitting out in the water with Glenn and he asks me about our youth. While they are falling off their boards and wiping out in the waves, I point them out one by one: Daisy, graduated and going to CSUN; Creon graduated a full year early, is a team leader in City Year, headed to college; Davon will graduate, talking college with his mentor; Jovan graduated and working full time; Esteban, graduated and going to CSUN; Brian, graduated; Alvin, graduated; Floyd, graduated, studying to be a stunt man and evaluating colleges, Sidney, will graduate and go to college; Danny will graduate and go to college.

Thanks to Boarding House Mentors and Groundswell Society.  Thanks to our young people for stepping up to life.

peace and blessings,

Tony

Tony LoRe
Founder/CEO
Youth Mentoring Connection/Urban Oasis  

Founder

Boarding House Mentors

Let yourself be silently drawn
by the stronger pull of what you really love.
--Rumi