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My Friend's Place Teams Up With Princeton's PICS Project
This summer, MFP had the pleasure of hosting Jenesis Fonseca, an intern from the Princeton Internship in Civic Service Program (PICS). PICS provides the opportunity for students to explore potential careers in public service and the non-profit sector. Jenesis recently completed her first year at Princeton and wanted to inspire the youth in Hollywood to overcome their obstacles just as she was inspired by her community to overcome the obstacles of an unstable home life. Jenesis can identify with the pain that many MFP youth have experienced; at a young age, Jenesis' parents separated, and her father was imprisoned shortly thereafter.
Throughout her ten week internship, Jenesis coordinated workshops, field trips, and culturally-inspired food events for MFP's Cultural Inclusion Project (CIP), the goal being to expose youth to places and activities they have never had the opportunity to experience. The youth visited places such as the Getty, Chinatown and MOCA, and enjoyed traditional dishes from regions such as Mexico, China, Jamaica, the Middle East and Spain. A central component to the CIP is skill-building workshops where youth explore the computer lab, sewing and tapestry, theater arts and yoga. Jenesis recalled a transformative moment for one of the participating youth who, inspired by a trip to the Long Beach Aquarium, decided that he would like to pursue a career in marine biology. Jenesis believes the strength of the CIP program lies is in its ability to encourage youth to "let their guard down and enjoy little things like sharing a meal." She states that she won't forget a moment when one of the youth remarked, "It feels like we're normal; like we're a family."
Princeton alumni serve as partners to the PICS student interns. Jenesis partnered with Paul Haaga, whose support and dedication to the MFP youth made the CIP possible. Jenesis expressed profound gratitude to Paul and to My Friend's Place board members Chuck Freadhoff and N. Dexter Williams who served as her mentors.
Thank you, Jenesis, for your dedication to serving and inspiring homeless youth in LA. You will be missed!
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