Hip Hop Congress

Placer county project: in 2021, the pandemic was still at a height and many of our workshops were held online including our writing & reciting workshop and urban arts for change in the juvenile hall. These continued and we were able to pivot and utilize the nationwide network of Hip Hop to bring artist-teachers into a virtual space. Many podcasts also emerged during this time including "Hip Hop journey- creative pathways in Hip Hop", digging deeper- honest conversations and caged bird radio. Through a collaboration with raising placer youth a group of our teen leaders also facilitated online workshops during this time about how to make a difference in the community and content creating for youth. Existing programs that were able to continue in person, included the academy of blah (business, leadership, arts and humanities). This program is an academic support and leadership program for homeschooled high school students. Through this program, the cap the gaps project was born. A group of about 6-8 students participated in activities to learn about mental health services and the effectiveness of our public-school education in our community. They did this through community mapping and conducting 33 video interviews with community youth, parents, and other leaders. This culminated in our first focus group. Then they identified the gaps in the systems and started coming up with ideas and solutions. We also worked to secure funding for this project and were successful in obtaining a California arts council grant as well as a 3-year elevate youth ca grant. In april, we had a youth retreat for our project. Participants worked with native elders and interviewed them and made drums. Summer of 2021, we hosted a youth changemakers group in conjunction with growing peace camp resuming at a smaller capacity, in person.

Strutter's room master camp: hhc hosted over 40 local and international students for a weeklong program and livestream recorded workshop series that included a group dance performance at fillmore and bayview/hunters point juneteenth festivals as well as a juneteenth nighttime concert in rodeo, ca. Successfully navigated hybrid in-person and virtual programming via zoom & howlive.tv platforms during the aftermath of the pandemic.

San francisco chapter: purchase of high-end av equipment allowed for hhc to host community service events such as birthday parties, memorials, camps, and concerts in the fillmore district of san francisco.