“SWEET!!!” — is what my nephew said when I sent him a text to say that I passed the California Bar Exam. Remember when I took it in July 2008??? I just found out at 6 PM tonight that I passed — thanks to my baby brother for checking the results for me. We printed them and we’re going to celebrate!
The official list will be public on Sunday! www.calbar.ca.gov/exam/

Thank you for the love & support through out!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Training Opportunity in Fresno

Dec 2008 Training

The WhyTry Program is a strength-based approach to helping youth overcome their challenges. It is now changing lives in over 5,000 schools, youth centers, and social service agencies. The Program improves outcomes in the areas of truancy, conduct disorders, and academic failure — while giving youth their own answer to the question “Why Try?”

If you work with at-risk populations, or know someone who does, then please spread the word. WHY TRY will not only change the way we do our jobs, but it will also change the way we think about our jobs. I’m looking forward to the first ever 2-day in-depth WHY TRY certification training in Fresno on December 1 & 2.

If you mention The Carissa Project when you sign up you’ll get a discount!

If you would like to set up your own group training please contact Lee McNeil at the number below to schedule a time to talk about your specific goals, or email lee@whytry.org and let him know what additional information he can provide to support you.

You can also get more information, including a preview of the visual analogies, at www.whytry.org.

* Spanish version of analogies is available!!!

For more information and to register:
Dec 2008 Registration

What will be covered in the training?

* Experiential Activities - See the experiential activities demonstrated and get first hand training and ideas on how you can increase participation and learning for everyone involved.

* Surrendering the “One-up” Relationship with Individuals and in Group or Classroom Settings - This is perhaps the most important addition to the program. Research shows that over 80% of change in an individual results from interpersonal relationships. We will show you some powerful techniques and tools to help you build trusting relationships and motivate those you work with.

* WhyTry Music Applications - Hear the WhyTry music, learn ways to teach using the music, and see demonstrations on how to process the music.

* Basic Training - We will also be covering all the basics on how to use the program including the workbook, the motivation formula, the visual analogies, group applications, individual interventions, classroom curriculum and more.

* Teaching A WhyTry Class - We have received some great feedback and ideas from several of you who have been using the program in a classroom environment. As a result we have compiled an outline for setting up and running a class using the WhyTry Program.

* Observe it in practice - If you have been to one of our presentations or training sessions before, you have probably heard us explain how to use the program. This time you will see it and experience it for your self. We will include several live demonstrations as well as opportunities for you to participate

* WhyTry Certification - Be one of the first to be trained and certified in the WhyTry program. Certified individuals will get access to new materials before they are released. They will also become part of our valued feedback team, become involved in pilot programs and will be invited to participate in our WhyTry.org Discussion Groups. (coming soon)

* Continuing Education Units – You can receive up to 10 continuing education units for this training.

Download Registration Form

October 24, 2008 — Link to a second Brookings Institution Study REALEASED TODAY…

The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America

The Brookings Institution
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/1024_concentrated_poverty.aspx

MY THOUGHTS IN RESPONSE TO BOTH STUDIES ON CONCENTRATED POVERTY IN FRESNO…

According to the Brookings Institution, Fresno was indeed cut in half by a freeway — and so were its people! The California Highway 99 is the most traveled road in California, it has transformed the state in many positive ways. However, did anyone ever stop to think that the transformation wasn’t all good???

(Follow the link to the study. Fresno begins on page 25.)

The freeway cut through Fresno, and not long after that discriminatory lending cut what they would lend to people on the west side of the 99, ultimately slicing through their earning power. The result today is that the value of life on Fresno’s west side has become worth less than life on the other side of the 99.

I know this story all too well, as I was taken to the west side of 99 to be bought and sold at the age of 12. It was clear to me then, almost 20 years ago, that it wasn’t just one person that was responsible for me being able to be bought and sold on the streets.

There was a culture on the west side among the victims, the helpers (police, service providers), and the innocent (store owners, and community members), which allowed for it. This report highlights the environment where exploitations of all sorts flourish. We should all do what we can to stop it.

http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/1024_concentrated_poverty.aspx

August 4, 2008 — Monday & more than just a new week!

It’s so great to be done with the bar exam!!! August is an exciting month for me and for The Carissa Project.

Yes, I finished the bar last week, and this week I am proudly announcing that the documentary short about a short part of my life is enjoying its first theatrical release!!! What a great life!

The film, by David Sauvage, is playing at the Arclight in Hollywood from August 22 through August 28 as part of Docuweek, the International Documentary Association’s qualifying run for the Academy Awards.

CARISSA at the ARCLIGHT August 22 - 28

Friday, August 22, 2:30
Saturday, August 23, 4:45
Sunday, August 24, 7:15
Monday, August 25, 9:20
Tuesday, August 26, 12:00 (noon)
Wednesday, August 27, 2:30
Thursday, August 28, 4:45

You can buy tickets in advance here or just show up at the box office.

Arclight Hollywood
6360 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

It’s set-up as one of four acclaimed short documentaries. Please choose a screening and let me know when you’ll be there. I’ll be there at least a few of the evenings (I have a surprise birthday party for a very special 9 y/o on one of the nights so I won’t be there every night).

Please email this message to friends and help pack the theater every night.

If you can’t wait until August 22, Carissa is playing this week at the following locations. Hope to see you there!

Friday, August 8, 7:45 PM
Hermosa Beach Film Festival
Hermosa Beach Playhouse
Pier Avenue at Pacific Coast Highway
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254

Sunday, August 10, 1:05 PM
Hollyshorts Film Festival
Leammle’s Sunset 5
8000 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90046

CARISSA has won Best Documentary Short at four film festivals, including Newport Beach. It was featured in USA Today and on Good Morning America. It’s Executive Produced by Davis Guggenheim, the brilliant director of “An Inconvenient Truth,” sponsored by Virgin Mobile and the Los Angeles Dodgers Dream Foundation, and produced by Chad Troutwine, Carissa Phelps and David Sauvage.

“>

This is for the entire Virgin Mobile RE*Generation crew!

I had been told about the STRIP2CLOTHE campaign early on, and knew that it had come a long way, but with studying for the bar exam I hadn’t had the time to take a look at it. However, I had to take a few minutes to check out the site, when I read about the “outrage” in the news today. I felt like a kid in the schoolyard watching a very good friend get beat up on…BUT before I stepped up in support of the campaign, I wanted to see it for myself.

After visiting the site and getting over my knee-jerk “uht oh” reaction, I watched some videos, and guess what, they’re cute. (I loved to see people actually laughing a little when most of the time the work we do makes us want to cry). The screened videos are not pornographic, they’re not sleazy, they’re actually funny & creative, and who knows if the Supreme Court would say the videos appeal to the “prurient interest” (because no one really knows what the heck that means anyways). The bottom line is there is real value in the site, and in getting people engaged in this topic.

STRIP2CLOTHE is a great campaign because it’s clean, and yet it’s also provocative — it has provoked people to start talking. I’m stepping up to show my support. After visiting the site, it looks like good clean fun to me, and as long as it stays that way I will support it in any way that I can.

Much luck to my friends working tirelessly on this issue at Virgin Mobile RE*Generation — your team rocks! Here’s my 2 cents, and I hope it’s right on time…

I think the site is off the charts and is a great way to get peope to:

#1. have a little good clean fun while helping homeless kids, and
#2. get interested in the issue if they didn’t care before

All that said, we should expect the current criticism. In America it is so tough to talk about the truth when it comes to sex. This failure to communicate, unfortunately leads us to trouble. The trouble is serious, it means kids are left on their own while we bicker about the best ways to help. We need to get over it, and that’s difficult because it means getting over ourselves.

I’ve seen firsthand how Americans can be afraid of themselves, when it comes time to talk about anything remotely related to sex. I see it when I bring up sexual exploitation of youth, rape, and other horrors that I lived as a street kid. People shift around in their chairs, they just don’t even want to imagine the things that could happen to a 12 year old on the streets. Well, imagine it or not, it’s the truth.

Because it’s the truth, if we don’t get homeless kids some help fast, and get them noticed in mainstream, then they’ll either:

#1. have no chance at a future; and probably also
#2. be forced to have sex to survive

The business behind helping homeless kids means we’ve got to take risks. We’re competing with other charities that are far more sympathetic than teens who are having major issues. This is the right time, place, and reason to take risks.

So, I ask…

“What’s worse? Screened content that shows a few people having a good time, that is less sexy than the JCPenney catalogue? OR Letting kids live alone on the streets to be exploited by pedophiles?”

I think even my mother-in-law (love you lots b/c I know you’re reading) would agree that we should all chip in a piece of clothing that we can do without, if it means we’re saving kids from the torture I once experienced. And if you’re not into taking it off, and don’t want your teen to either then talk to them about why you think it’s wrong (an opportunity for instilling values at home), and let them know there are other ways to help homeless kids…the RE*Generation campaign that started it all was to simply text “KARMA” to 68405 . While standard text rates apply, you don’t even need to know how to make a video to give a brand new piece of clothing to a homeless kid — and if you don’t get why kids need new clothes then you’re probably on the wrong site.

For the RE*Generation crew that worked tirelessly on this campaign: Put the negative press behind you — it’s not a time to be safe. This is the type of campaign that can stop the real terror on the streets, of kids being forced to sell themselves on the streets to the real monsters.

I think in the long run the world will respond positively — America will catch up too — unless of course we remain so pent up with our own sexual frustrations that we can’t face reality, but I have faith that we can and will do the right thing!

Much love to the RE*Generation team — you guys are awesome and you’re on the right track!!!

Friends of the film,

“Carissa” has just been accepted to Docuweek, … “Carissa” will play at the Arclight Cinema in Los Angeles for one week at the end of August.

The International Documentary Association [IDA] received 120+ documentary short submissions and selected only four. We can add this to the following victories for the film:

* Jury Prize, Best Documentary Short, Newport Beach Film Festival
* Jury Prize, Best Documentary Short, Connecticut Film Festival
* Jury Prize, Best Short, New York City PictureStart Film Festival
* Audience Award, Documentary, Fresno Film Festival
* Featured in USA Today and Good Morning America

[The film also screened] on Friday, July 11 at 8:35 PM at the Roxie in San Francisco as part of the Frozen Film Festival.

Carissa is sponsored by Virgin Mobile and the Los Angeles Dodgers Dream Foundation, executive produced by Jamie McCourt and Davis Guggenheim, and produced by Carissa Phelps, Chad Troutwine and yours truly.

Thanks so much for all your support, and I’ll continue to pass along any big news.

David

March 29, 2008 Saturday — Baseball practice, rest, and showing my appreciation for community.

I am so happy to announce the correction on ABC Ch 30 11 o’clock news last night! I can’t tell you how much it helps me to move forward with the fight against the sexual exploitation — the prostitution — of children.

Most of you understood exactly what I was getting at, especially Dr. Lois Lee with Children of the Night, a tireless advocate for children that have been involved in prostitution. (Please refer anyone you know who has been involved in prostitution as a child to Children of the Night, they give children hope for normalcy — an actual childhood — after the trauma. 800-551-1300. www.childrenofthenight.org)

I met Dr. Lois Lee towards the beginning of filming the documentary. I had already returned to the Villa Motel on Parkway Drive, where the nightmare began, and we had put together a few minutes of footage to share with the kids at Children of the Night. I sat in the living room with a dozen kids who were just like me. We all cried, first as I watched the Children of the Night video, and heard their stories, and then as they watched mine. Afterwards we didn’t talk about the trauma, we just talked about normal stuff. We had some lunch and I heard about their school days, their interests, and their outings.

That was the first day I met Lois. I remember so clearly that when we sat in her office at the end of the day she said to me, “the painful part was just starting. It is going to get worse.”

She knew what I did not…that there would be countless misunderstandings with the media, and with friends, and with family.

I get it now. And I can see why she does not recommend or encourage kids (or adults) to talk about what they have been through with the public. There are still too many misconceptions in the media, and in our own hearts.

I am so grateful to be in a community that has stood up for what was right. It truly does give me the courage and the determination to keep this fight up until we break down the barriers of misconception to get help to kids that are alone and afraid — and trapped — first by those that exploit them and then later by the public and their peers.

Thank you to all those that called and emailed, and thank you to ABC 30 Local for standing up for what is right!

***************

Yesterday I spoke at Lemoore’s West Hills Community College Leadership Conference! It was amazing. There was a great turnout and I enjoyed questions and comments following my presentation. I am encouraged by the number of people in the Central Valley that are survivors — keep up the fight!

And besides having to write this entry (to give you & ABC credit) I had a completely normal day today that included baseball practice, bbq, and rest! It’s taking time to settle in to the fact that life is so good, especially when you’re doing what you love! That said…I did make the big decision to take the bar exam this July. I’ll keep everyone posted. Expect that you might be getting some law review on these blogs as I plow through the thousands of pages and dozens of law books over the next two months!

March 26, 2008 — Losing the attitude means you can laugh at yourself…and have the capacity to enjoy you!

When I was in law school I visited my “adopted” parents over the holidays and some weekends. One of my favorite things to do was to have coffee and read my horoscope in the Fresno Bee. The scope helped me laugh at myself! I loved the bee-scope so much that I’d get back to school and Barbara would call to read it to me.

I woke up this morning to this bee-scope…

Virgo: You might not realize the impact of your attitude on others. You could be making a situation or interaction much heavier or difficult. Look at why you assume the attitude.

Laughing at myself is important. Do I have attitude? YES!

And don’t confuse my attitude with my persistence, passion, determination, or confidence — those are qualities! “Attitude” has a negative connotation because it is somehow unjustified and usually results when a person feels frustrated, either by their own limitations, or the situation they are in.

Simply admitting the attitude is just the beginning. I really need to know “WHY I ASSUME THE ATTITUDE” in order to get rid of it. Maybe I feel like the community got a raw deal, like as much as we tried to rationalize and explain our elected officials did not get it, and maybe I just feel tired and frustrated at the process — one that was broken from the start. In any case, just talking about those reasons makes me feel 100% better!

I’m cool with losing the “attitude.” I don’t think it sets a good example and I also don’t think that “attitude” gets anyone anywhere. That said, my persistence, determination, confidence, and passion still remain!!!

Click here for a picture worth more than words.

Here’s a woman who has lived on Parkway Drive for years. She has a Fresno State sweatshirt on. She’s got clothes. Keep giving clothes, but also think about how we can get her a home. I saw a program on CBS evening news that a friend recorded.

Check it out:
“How To End Homelessness? Provide Homes”

I learned about Father Greg two years ago in my Community Economic Development (CED) legal clinic at UCLA. It was such an amazing class and homeboy industries was my favorite visit. I felt so much more at home at their offices with ex-gang members, homeboys & homegirls, running the show. My 10 classmates could not have known how familiar the place felt to me … more than law school!

Father Greg gives me hope. Listen to his speech (link below) and Q&A.

My own take on it is to be kind until she finds her own truth. Show her the value of her own truth, because her truth will give her hope. Her hope will give her a sense of worth. And a hopeful girl who feels like she is worth something, will use the knowledge & resources she has to protect herself. A hopeless girl may not. And an unaware girl without resources simply can’t.

We are all the same. We are all in the same community, and healing ourselves is community building.

Thank you Father Greg Boyle. You’re my inspiration too!

Rev. Greg Boyle

http://wordforword.publicradio.org/programs/2007/11/02/

November 2, 2007
Rev. Greg Boyle is the founder of Los Angeles-based Homeboy Industries, an organization that gives jobs to young men and women who agree to give up the gang life. They make T-shirts and tacos, do maintenance and landscaping work, and in the process Boyle says they find a sense of self-worth. Rev. Boyle described his mission to “plan futures, not funerals” in an Oct. 25 speech in Minneapolis.