Youth Mobilize for Day of Action in Coachella

Jan. 15, 2014 / By

Former vandal Jose Rodriguez spent Monday cleaning up Avenida Las Palmas in Coachella as part of the Clinton Foundation Day of Action. Photo: AURORA SALDIVAR/Coachella Uninc

Former vandal Jose Rodriguez spent Monday cleaning up Avenida Las Palmas in Coachella as part of the Clinton Foundation Day of Action. Photo: AURORA SALDIVAR/Coachella Uninc

AURORA SALDIVAR and BRENDA R. RINCON/Coachella Uninc

COACHELLA – Three years ago Jose Rodriguez was more likely to be found vandalizing neighborhoods rather than cleaning one up.

But on Monday’s Day of Action, organized by the Clinton Foundation and led by Chelsea Clinton, Rodriguez was one of approximately 100 volunteers who participated in the beautification of one block of Avenida Las Palmas in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods.

Rodriguez, 18, said he began to care about his community when he stopped “hanging out with the wrong crowd” and joined the Boys & Girls Club in nearby Mecca.

“I really love that we were able to guide him in a different direction,” said Trinidad Arredondo, a youth mentor at the club. “When we provide an opportunity to help, Jose is here and fully engaged…a lot of the time we don’t’ provide these avenues for young people to participate.”

Read more at Coachella Unincorporated

 

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Coachella Unincorporated

Coachella Unincorporated is a Youth Media Startup in the East Coachella Valley, funded by the Building Healthy Communities Initiative of The California Endowment and operated by New America Media in San Francisco. The purpose of the project is to report on issues in the community that can bring about change. Coachella Unincorporated refers to the region youth journalists cover but also to the unincorporated communities of the Eastern Valley with the idea to “incorporate” the East Valley into the mainstream Coachella Valley mindset.