Women's History Month: Aeeshah Clottey (AHC Co-Founder)

March is Women’s History Month. We’d like to take the time to acknowledge the trailblazing women that are within our midst now. Women that have paved the way and dedicated themselves to laying a strong foundation for others to build, grow and thrive. First, we will acknowledge our co-founder and leader of the Attitudinal Healing Connection (AHC) in Oakland, Mrs. Aeeshah Clottey (known by many in the community as Ms. Aeeshah).

Born in Louisiana and the youngest of 12, she grew up picking cotton and being reared by her tenacious older sisters, heroic mother, and hard-working father. At age 15, Aeeshah migrated west to help her elder sisters who had settled in East Palo Alto to work and raise families. It was there that she finished high school, became the valedictorian of her class and got a full scholarship to UC Berkeley. At Berkeley, she became fully awakened to the impact of racism, witnessing how its insidious nature manipulated humanity’s capacity to live in unity. Her spiritual and philosophical evolution and the tumultuous civil rights movement of the 60’s led her to join the Nation of Islam. 

Dedicated to the Black liberation movement, she found that her journey had not ended as she sought truth through books that spoke to higher conscious thinking, awareness, and spirituality. At this point, she was introduced to a set of books, "A Course in Miracles," which connected her to a burgeoning Attitudinal Healing community in Tiburon, CA. This new relationship catalyzed a profound and effective shift in her thoughts and direction. Aeeshah knew there was more to learn and understand—her path led her into an inner journey of healing and a deeper connection to her purpose.  

In 1989, she co-founded AHC with her life partner and husband Kokomon Clottey. Since then, she has traveled the world, supported the development of other Attitudinal Healing Centers globally and written the published books: Beyond Fear, Twelve Spiritual Keys to Racial Healing (revised and published as Color Theory) and Eternal Quest for Happiness.

Through her work, passion, and commitment, she envisions a world where everyone is loved, educated and valued. Her notable projects involve parent and community engagement, workforce development for youth, and teaching the values of being a good neighbor while imparting the benefits of public housing. She is a woman beyond her time with the unique ability to connect with all communities and build an array of diverse allies to support the work of AHC.

CULTIVATING PARTNERSHIPS AND PLANTS

Community School for Creative Education (CSCE) is one of the most ethnically and socioeconomically diverse schools in the city of Oakland. AHC's partnership with CSCE spans a decade and serves as the school's lead agency for extended day programs. As partners, AHC and CSCE are well matched. Waldorf education is 100 years old, spans 67 countries, and develops the whole child. Attitudinal Healing is an award-winning model for inner healing used successfully worldwide for almost 50 years. AHC brings culturally relevant, assets-based arts education rooted in three decades of helping Oakland students reach their full potential to CSCE, the only urban public Waldorf school in the US. Today, we highlight 3 of the outstanding initiatives to keep students engaged mentally, physically and creatively. 

Community Garden
Community Building Coordinator Sharifah Ihsan-Wilson said, “Gardening has been a part of the Waldorf school curriculum since the very first Waldorf school in 1923.” Having a community garden encourages students to go outside and get in touch with nature;  allowing them to be present for the changing of the seasons while they connect their hands with soil and help plants to grow. Family Garden Days and gardening clubs for grades K-8 encourage participation at all age levels. The garden invites students to plant, harvest, and even to prepare produce. Since the onset of Covid-19, students have been able to take plants home to continue care for them. CSCE Extended Day staff members and head volunteer Ms. Claudia have taken the lead in maintaining the garden during school closures. Once it is safe to resume, students will learn about local plants that are highly sustainable, needing a minimal amount of water and maintenance. The program offers students the ability to learn a wealth of knowledge about gardening that they can carry with them through adulthood.

Literacy Program
For the third consecutive year AHC has received funding for the CSCE Extended Day Literacy Program from the Oakland Literacy Coalition/Oakland Reads. This grant helps CSCE Extended Day distribute books to K-3 students and their families. The books given out are within the academic guidelines, age-appropriate, and speak to a multicultural, diverse audience. 
The program also hosts virtual events with guest speakers to create a meaningful, personal connection to literacy.  Matilde Hollander was a recent guest speaker. She is a bilingual teacher and children's author specializing in bilingual book readings. Her books allow parents to read in their own language while simultaneously learning the English language.  
The literacy program strives to dramatically increase reading proficiency levels, a critical foundation for future learning and success in school. Weaving together the strength of Oakland families, schools, and community partners, CSCE Extended Day is creating a future where Oakland children can fall in love with reading. 

The Murphy Family pick up their Art YOU Ready kit (above)

Art YOU Ready?
As shelter-in-place went into effect, AHC began it’s highly successful art kit distribution program; providing art supplies to CSCE and a multitude of Bay Area schools. As the year progressed, we saw additional challenges with major fires, poor air quality and floods. It became apparent that more support was needed for our community. 
The Art YOU Ready campaign was created to provide emergency preparedness information and activity guides to families, in addition to high quality art supplies.  The activity guides make emergency preparedness fun; showing students how to make a safety mask out of a t-shirt, and an emergency contact book out of manila envelopes. 
After picking up her Art YOU Ready art kit, CSCE parent Ms. Murphy shared, “Based on the fact that we are stuck inside, we’re looking for things to do, to keep busy, connect and interact with each other.”
CSCE will host two Art YOU Ready events later this month (details below). During this time of emotional hardship with the pandemic, they encourage students to express themselves through art.  Participating in art helps kids to connect with their creative side and steer away from negative thought patterns while being productive. 

Art YOU Ready kit distribution dates:
March 3rd and March 6th at CSCE

Emergency Preparedness Trainings
Tuesday, March 16th, 4:00pm-5:00pm (Spanish Speakers)
Wednesday, March March 24th, 5:00pm-6:00pm

Activities: bookmaking and protective mask making 
Interpreters will be provided

For more information contact: sharifah@ahc-oakland.org

AHC Providing Employment Training During the Covid-19 Crisis

In 2016, AHC launched Earn2Learn, a workforce development program designed to connect Oakland youth to local job opportunities. This year, the program is more vital than ever. The unemployment rate has jumped from 2.6% to 7.7% in Alameda county within the last year, and the number continues to rise due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The program is a much needed resource for the community we serve, primarily engaging Oakland youth ages 16-24. Workshops include resume building, cover letter writing and presentations from local business leaders. This year we also covered workplace safety measures relating to Covid-19. Students are challenged to think deeply about the true meanings of professionalism, integrity, and accountability. 

Zyaire Knighten graduated from Earn2Learn over the summer and has been working at AHC since October, helping with the ArtEsteem Art Kit program. There has been a high demand for art kits and AHC recently fulfilled an order of 7,500 kits for the San Francisco Unified School district in partnership with Flax Art Store. Zhaire has found the work to be rewarding, “We are working on some new art kits that include clay, water colors, construction paper, pencil, pencil sharpeners- I love the work!”

Employment opportunities are not limited to AHC. The Earn2Learn program has partnered with a highly diverse group of Oakland based businesses including: Mandela Foods, Flax Art Store, Sankofa African Arts and Jewelry, Kingston 11 Cuisine and Community Foods Market. The program graduates are able to take the skills they learn through the program to the next phase of their career. Zhaiye has built up her confidence through the program, and plans to attend medical school in the future. “I will recommend Earn2Learn to others,” says Zyaire.

Creating everlasting change.
When you donate to AHC, you are supporting programs like Earn2Learn that create real change in the lives of young people. We hold a vision of sustainable, resilient, and adaptable communities that can thrive under any situation. Make a donation today to help youth thrive by providing access and support for the workforce of tomorrow.

3 Black Prominent Oakland Artists You Need to Know About

Every February, Black History Month celebrates the multitude of cultural contributions from African Americans. At AHC, we recognize that there is a long history of pioneers that have played a crucial role in making Oakland a culturally rich and vibrant city. We have encouraged our students to learn about and uplift historical figures through our art classes and leadership training programs. 

As an arts organization deeply rooted in Oakland, we celebrate the legacy of three Black Bay Area artists:

Frances Dunham Catlett
Frances Dunham Catlett received a degree in social work from UC Berkeley in 1948, becoming one of the first Black social workers in the East Bay. She went on to receive a Masters in Art degree from Mills College in Oakland and began painting in her medium of choice, acrylics. 

“When I decided that I was going to work with the problems of Black women, I was going to try and make people see them as beautiful, dignified, strong people; I had to take the art to our people….and get art by our people into museums.” Catletts work has been shown at the Richmond Art Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Oakland Museum of California. Catlett had over fifty individual exhibitions of her work during her lifetime. 

Catlett was known to many as a “Bohemian Spirit” and remained vibrant through her later years (she lived to 105). While describing her work she said, "I am especially sensitive to the mystery of the universe….the beauty of nature and dancing through it all. The air is never empty."

Morris “Morrie” Turner
Morris “Morrie” Turner was born in Oakland, California, on December 11th, 1923. He began drawing caricatures when he was in the 5th grade. With the passage of time, he kept nurturing his creativity by shifting from simple caricatures to cartoon strips.

Upon graduating from high school, Turner was drafted into the army and trained as a mechanic. Turner continued to illustrate cartoons and began submitting work to the military newspaper, “Stars and Stripes.” 

He befriended “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz, who encouraged Turner to produce his own work. In 1965 Morrie created the comic Wee Pals, the first syndicated comic strip to feature ethnic diversity. The strip was originally carried by five newspapers, and was picked up by over 100 outlets following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. Wee Pals was eventually developed into a TV show and aired on ABC’s KGO-TV in San Francisco.

“I like writing about children and for children,” Turner said in 2002. “They are so honest and forward, and they will tell you the truth.” He wrote several books for children, including The Illustrated Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Turner was honored by Children’s Fairyland in Oakland and has been inducted into the California Public Education Hall of Fame.

Raymond Saunders
Raymond Saunders is known for his fiercely independent ideology and visual approach, combining urban imagery with modernism. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology before going on to earn his Master of Fine Arts degree from California College of Arts in 1961. 

In 1967 he released a pamphlet/manifesto called Black is a Color, which challenged the premise that some artists produce work that can be uniquely identified as “Black Art”. 

“Racial hang-ups are extraneous to art. No artist can afford to let them obscure what runs through all art–the living root and the ever-growing aesthetic record of human spiritual and intellectual experience. Can’t we get clear of these degrading limitations, and recognize the wider reality of art, where color is the means and not the end?” 
-  Raymond Saunders, Black is a Color, 1967

Saunders' career was unique, and not confined to traditional exhibitions. In 1984 he created limited edition posters for the 1984 Olympic Games, and that same year he illustrated the original book cover for David Mamet’s award-winning play Glengarry, Glen Ross. 

He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and two National Endowment for the Arts Awards. Sanders' work has been exhibited at The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. 

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Supporting the artists of tomorrow
As a Bay Area nonprofit, we are committed to supporting the next generation of BIPOC Oakland artists. Our award-winning program, ArtEsteem empowers students by integrating the arts with classroom core content in support of academic achievement. Since 1995, AHC programs have served over 67 at-risk schools and their communities. We believe that artistic expression manifests solutions that have the potential to lift communities out of poverty, enable racial healing and bridge learning, language and technology gaps. Consider making a recurring donation to support our efforts towards building a better, safer, more equitable and beautiful world.  

All images/photos curtesy of original artists, rights reserved to creator.

In Memory of Jerry Jampolsky

Attitudinal Healing Principle #11:
Since love is eternal, death need not be viewed as fearful.

On December 29, 2020, Jerry Jampolsky, the founder of Attitudinal Healing, died. Jerry was 95 years old.

Jerry developed the 12 tenets of Attitudinal Healing and the first Attitudinal Healing Center in Tiburon, CA, working with children who had life-threatening illnesses. Along with his talented and dedicated wife, Diane Cirincione, Jerry has influenced people all over the world in the powerful healing concepts of Attitudinal Healing for inner peace, forgiveness, and love.

As a student of a set of books written by Helen Schucman, entitled “A Course in Miracles”, and influenced by the 12-steps of AA, Jerry set forth to draw from the wisdom of these philosophies.

He extracted simple abstract ideas that one could apply to their various forms and beliefs of love and fear for inner awareness and wholeness.These guides have set the platform for fully living and training one's self to let go of painful, fearful thoughts; to choose peace over conflict and love over fear.

In 1989, my mother, Aeeshah Clottey, with her husband Kokomon Clottey, co-founded the Attitudinal Healing Connection in Oakland. Their quest? To use Attitudinal Healing to address the issues of racism, poverty and violence. She met Jerry in 1975 at A Course in Miracles Introduction at JFK University. I was six years old when I met Jerry. I remember his warmth, light and beaming smile.

My mother and Jerry had since developed a deep relationship influenced by these tools for letting go and healing. She held his hand and joined with Diane, Kokomon and a global community, breathing life into Attitudinal Healing, sparking the miracles of creativity and making an indelible impact on humanity.

The powerful concepts of Attitudinal Healing, originally developed by Jerry Jampolsky, have taken a life of their own. His work and teachings have set forth a legacy.

Thank you, Jerry! You will continue to live and be remembered through your dream.

Amana Harris
Executive Director, AHC