The Michigan Chronicle attended the Art of Resilience Festival this summer, and created a video with photos, interviews and a few performances! Check it out here:
Author: Starr Commonwealth
Detroit’s Newest Youth Festival Boosted by $5000 Foundation Grant
July 29, 2014
Detroit, Mich.
A new initiative designed to promote the resilience of Detroit’s children, families and communities has been boosted by a grant of $5000 from the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan. Continue reading
Catch Us in the Media!
The Starr Summer Youth Festival has been featured on WHCB, WJLB, WMDX and in the Michigan Chronicle! Keep an eye and ear out for news of the festival on the radio and in the papers!
A Courageous Kid
A two-time cancer survivor’s story of resilience
By Jackie Berg
Keep fighting. That’s the adage of cancer survivor Donald (DJ) Smith.
The remarkable college student has accomplished a lot within 22 years, but his greatest achievement to date is conquering a condition that might have defeated even the strongest of individuals.
A Young Artist Captures the Spirit of Detroit
By Jackie Berg
First printed in Living Well
Everyone has a story. And, for many Detroit area youth, it begins with seemingly unshakable tenacity.
It is what separates and defines us, according to Brandon Foster, a 22-year old student, artist and native Detroiter.
How Teen Entrepreneur Veunita Garrison Flipped Her Script
By Jackie Berg
First printed in the Michigan Chronicle
The cover tells the story. That’s the adage of the publication industry driven by consumer appeal.
If a consumer likes what he sees on a magazine cover, he’s more likely to want to look at what’s inside, according to Juan Sifuentes, a respected industry veteran known for his award-winning designs and graphic designer of the Michigan Chronicle’s LivingWELL Magazine.
Much Love
Watch this great video about a community in Detroit that worked to improve their schools. Where they once had a graduation rate of under 50%, they now have 82 seniors graduating, all of whom were accepted to college. All it took was a new system to help the students learn that they can succeed.
“Success is contagious. That’s something that people don’t realize. Once you realize you can do it, you start finding that everything falls into place after that.”
Pastor Owens Speaks on Resilience
Watch this video of Pastor Michael Andrew Owens of the Bethel Baptist Church East in Detroit as he discusses what Resilience means to him and how we are working to help the children and families of Detroit.
Art of Resilience Festival
We are currently raising funds to hold an Art of Resilience Festival in Detroit, and we need your help!
We Choose Peace
Art can influence healing.
Working with the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children, Starr’s first Art of Resilience event was a special conference that commemorated the first anniversary of Sandy Hook. This presentation included faculty members from the elementary school who spoke not only about their experience, but how they were able to work with the survivors and their families to move through the trauma.
Each member of the audience for this presentation was invited to create a tile piece that represented healing, and the combined tiles were crafted together and donated to Starr Detroit Academy, a charter school in Detroit, Mich., under the title “We Choose Peace”.
Art of Resilience 