Please Contribute Your Gift Cards
Do you sigh every time you look into your wallet and see all your unused gift cards? Do you have gift cards tucked away in your drawer that you know you'll never use? Donate your gift cards to Create Now and help the most vulnerable children in Southern California through the healing power of creative arts mentoring. Please mail your cards to: Create Now 1611 S. Hope Street, # E Los Angeles, CA 90015 We'll send you a letter of substantiation for your tax records.
Contact us if you would like a flyer to promote this opportunity to your friends and associates.
Call us at (213) 747-2777 for more info or email: kelly@createnow.org.
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Create Now needs your help. Every penny counts so please click here to donate online, or send your contribution to: 1611 S. Hope Street, Suite # E, Los Angeles, CA 90015.
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Children at Olive Crest in Bellflower decorate
"Treasure Boxes" |
| Create Now is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1996. Our mission is to transform the lives of high-risk and at-risk youth through creative arts mentoring, education, resources and opportunities. The organization serves kids who have been abused, neglected, abandoned and orphaned, are left homeless, runaways, teen parents, victims of domestic violence, children of prisoners, substance abusers, gang members or incarcerated. In the past sixteen years, we've reached over 28,000 of these vulnerable kids through our unique arts mentoring and cultural programs and services. |
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Arts xChange in Afghanistan and Rwanda
 Arts xChange links youth in Los Angeles with students in other countries through our different arts programs. Thanks to a generous grant from USA for Africa, Create Now is connecting youth in Rwanda with students at an alternative continuation school in Compton, CA through our Introduction to Art workshop.
Since April 4th, 16 youth in Kigali and 16 youth in Los Angeles have been discussing important issues like poverty, violence, conflict and acceptance via curriculum developed in  collaboration with the Western Justic Center. The Rwandan youth take weekly art classes with artist Emmanuel Nkuranga, while the American students are learning from artist Carlos Spivey. The students communicate with each other through a private Facebook group. We will be sharing more in the weeks to come. Learn more  We're also delighted that our Mythic Challenges workshop with Pamela Jaye Smith of MYTHWORKS is bringing together students in Jalalabad, Afghanistan with youth at Grover Cleveland High School in Reseda, CA through Evelyn Seubert's International Media class. For their school assignment, they're collaborating to create six videos on three of the 15 Millenium Challenges: the Environment, Clean Water and Technology. Since the youth in Afghanistan don't have video equipment, they are providing written material and possibly photos to be used in a special section of each video that will specifically refer to how those challenges are felt in Afghanistan. The students in Evelyn's International Media class in Reseda are producing and editing the videos, which will be shared online for everyone around the world to experience.
Anna Mussman, U.S. Department of State, Jalalabad, Afghanistan said, "The lectures by Pamela Jaye Smith help Afghan students to develop their English language  skills, as well as their creativity." Fazeela from Bibi Hawa High School in Jalalabad said, "It was very interesting lessons and I hope that Pamela Jaye Smith sends more information like this for us. We will know better about how to use symbols in our videos and how to use archetypes." Read more |
A Happy Ending
 Shannon Courser's goal is to attend graduate school to pursue a Masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy with a focus in Art Therapy. For eight weeks, she volunteered to teach a Drawing Workshop to foster girls who live at Penny Lane Center, a group home in Northridge.
Shannon developed a close bond with some of the girls, who confided personal secrets to her that they couldn't share with anyone else.
These teenage girls felt a little sad that our program was ending. When they received their gift bags and Certificates of Completion at our culminating party, they applauded each other and said "I've never graduated anything! Thank you!"
 When the girls found out that our party coincided with Shannon's birthday, they turned it into a happier event. Shannon received birthday cards and handmade crafts from her mentees. She said, "Teaching this workshop really showed me that what these kids are looking for is (a) Someone to listen, and (b) Someone to guide them and help them out with difficult topics and choices.
Volunteer Coordinator Diane Kennedy said, "I have enjoyed meeting and working with Shannon and the other Create Now volunteers. All of them bring their unique personalities to Penny Lane Centers. Shannon brought her arts and crafts knowledge and her compassion to the clients. Thank you very much!"
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